Polypeptide having alpha-isomaltosyl-transferase activity

ABSTRACT

The object of the present invention is to provide a polypeptide which can be used to produce a saccharide having a structure of cyclo{→6)-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→3)-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→6)-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→3)-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→}, a DNA encoding the polypeptide, and uses thereof. The present invention solves the above object by establishing a polypeptide which has an enzymatic activity to produce a saccharide having a structure of cyclo{→6}-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→3)-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→6)-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→3)-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→} from a saccharide with a glucose polymerization degree of 3 or higher and bearing both the α-1,6 glucosidic linkage as a linkage at the non-reducing end and the α-1,4 glucosidic linkage other than the linkage at the non-reducing end by catalyzing the α-isomaltosyl-transfer, and having an amino acid sequence of either SEQ ID NO:1 or SEQ ID NO:2, or that which is a member selected from the group consisting of amino acid sequences having deletion, replacement, or addition of one or more amino acid residues therein or thereto, a DNA encoding the polypeptide, and uses thereof.

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present invention relates to polypeptides which have an activity of forming a cyclic tetrasaccharide having a structure of cyclo{→6)-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→3)-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→6)-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→3)-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→} from a saccharide with a glucose polymerization degree of 3 or higher and bearing both the α-1,6 glucosidic linkage as a linkage at the non-reducing end and the α-1,4 glucosidic linkage other than the linkage at the non-reducing end, and which comprise an amino acid sequence of either SEQ ID NO:1 or SEQ ID NO:2, or the amino acid sequence having deletion, replacement, or addition of one or more amino acid residues of SEQ ID NO:1 or SEQ ID NO:2; and to uses thereof. More particularly, the present invention relates to polypeptides which have the activity to form a cyclic tetrasaccharide having a structure of cyclo{→6)-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→3)-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→6)-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→3)-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→} from a saccharide with a glucose polymerization degree of 3 or higher and bearing both the α-1,6 glucosidic linkage as a linkage at the non-reducing end and the α-1,4 glucosidic linkage other than the linkage at the non-reducing end, and which comprise the amino acid sequence of either SEQ ID NO:1 or SEQ ID NO:2, or the amino acid sequence having deletion, replacement or addition of one or more amino acid residues of SEQ ID NO:1 or SEQ ID NO:2, to a DNA encoding the amino acid sequence, to a replicable recombinant DNA which comprise a DNA encoding the polypeptide and an autonomously replicable vector, to transformants which are constructed by introducing the recombinant DNAs into appropriate hosts, to a process for preparing the polypeptides, to the cyclic tetrasaccharide described above, and to uses thereof.

BACKGROUND ART

[0002] There have been known several saccharides which composed of glucose molecules as constituents, for example, partial starch hydrolyzates, produced from starches as materials, including amyloses, amylodextrins, maltodextrins, maltooligosaccharides, and isomaltooligosaccharides. Also, these saccharides are known to have usually non-reducing and reducing groups at their molecular ends and exhibit reducibility. Usually, partial starch hydrolyzates, which have a strong reducing power on a dry solid basis, are known to have properties of a relatively low molecular weight and viscosity, a relatively strong sweetness and reactivity, easy reactivity with amino group-containing substances such as amino acids and proteins by amino carbonyl reaction that may induce browning and unpleasant smell, and easily cause deterioration. Therefore, methods for decreasing or eliminating the reducing power of reducing saccharides without altering glucose residues have been required for a long time. For example, as disclosed in “Journal of American Chemical Society, Vol.71, 353-358 (1949)”, it was reported that methods for forming α-, β- or γ-cyclodextrins that are composed of 6, 7 or 8 glucose molecules linked together via the α-1,4 glucosidic linkage by contacting “macerans amylase” with starches. Nowadays, these cyclodextrins are produced on an industrial scale and are used in diversified fields using their inherent properties such as non-reducibility, tasteless, and inclusion abilities. As disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Kokai Nos. 143,876/95 and 213,283 applied for by the same applicant of the present invention, it is known a method for producing trehalose, composed of two glucose molecules linked together via the α,α-linkage, by contacting a non-reducing saccharide-forming enzyme and a trehalose-releasing enzyme with partial starch hydrolyzates such as maltooligosaccharides. At present, trehalose has been industrially produced from starches and used in different fields by using its advantageous non-reducibility, mild- and high quality-sweetness. As described above, trehalose having a glucose polymerization degree of 2, and α-, β- and γ-cyclodextrin having a glucose polymerization degree of 6, 7 and 8, are produced on an industrial scale and used in view of their advantageous properties, however, the types of non- or low-reducing saccharides are limited, so that more diversified saccharides other than these saccharide are greatly required.

[0003] Recently, a novel cyclic tetrasaccharide constructed by glucoses has been disclosed. For example, “European Journal of Biochemistry, Vol.226, 641-648 (1994)” shows that a cyclic tetrasaccharide which has a structure of cyclo{→6)-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→3)-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→6)-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→3)-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→} (hereinafter, called “cyclotetrasaccharide” in the present specification, unless specified otherwise.) is formed by contacting a hydrolyzing enzyme, alternanase, with alternan linked with glucose molecules via the alternating α-1,3 and α-1,6 bonds, followed by crystallization under the co-existence of methanol. Since cyclotetrasaccharide is a sugar having a cyclic structure and has no reducing power, it is expected that the saccharide shows no amino- carbonyl reactivity, and is useful to stabilize volatile organic compounds by its inclusion ability, and to be processed without any apprehension of browning and deterioration. However, it has been difficult to obtain alternan as a material and alternanase as an enzyme for preparing cyclotetrasaccharide. In addition, it has been substantially difficult to obtain a microorganism producing the enzyme.

[0004] Under these circumstances, the present inventors made every effort to study on a novel process for industrial production of cyclotetrasaccharide. As disclosed in PTC/JP01/04276, the present inventors found microorganisms of the genera Bacillus and Arthrobacter which produce an absolutely novel and ever unknown enzyme, α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme for forming cyclotetrasaccharide from a saccharide with a glucose polymerization degree of 3 or higher and bearing both the α-1,6 glucosidic linkage as a linkage at the non-reducing end and the α-1,4 glucosidic linkage other than the linkage at the non-reducing end. They found and disclosed in PCT/JP01/06412 that these microorganisms also produced another novel enzyme, α-isomaltosylglucosaccharide-forming enzyme which forms a saccharide with a glucose polymerization degree of 3 or higher and bearing both the α-1,6 glucosidic linkage as a linkage at the non-reducing end and the α-1,4 glucosidic linkage other than the linkage at the non-reducing end from saccharides with a glucose polymerization degree of 2 or higher. Furthermore, the present inventors found that cyclotetrasaccharide can be obtained from starchy saccharides with a glucose polymerization degree of 3 or higher by using α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme and α-isomaltosylglucosaccharide-forming enzyme. However, since the productivities of α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme of these microorganisms were not enough, a large-scale cultivation of these microorganisms is substantially difficult for industrial scale production of cyclotetrasaccharide.

[0005] In these days, it is revealed that the entity of the enzyme is a polypeptide, and the enzymatic activity is controlled by its amino acid sequence, as well as that a DNA encodes the amino acid sequence. Therefore, if a gene which encodes the polypeptide will be isolated, and if its nucleotide sequence will be determined, it will be relatively easy to prepare the desired amount of the polypeptide by a method which comprises the steps of constructing a recombinant DNA containing a gene which encodes the polypeptide, introducing the recombinant DNA into host-cells of microorganisms, animals or plants, and culturing the obtained transformants.

[0006] Under these circumstances, required are the isolation of a gene encoding a polypeptide as the entity of α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme, sequencing of the nucleotide sequence, and stable preparation of the polypeptide in large scale and at a relatively low cost.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

[0007] The first object of the present invention is to establish a polypeptide which has α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzymatic activity which catalyzes the formation of cyclotetrasaccharide from a saccharide with a glucose polymerization degree of 3 or higher and bearing both the α-1,6 glucosidic linkage as a linkage at the non-reducing end and the α-1,4 glucosidic linkage other than the linkage at the non-reducing end (hereinafter, the polypeptide described above may be abbreviated as “the polypeptide of the present invention”).

[0008] The second object of the present invention is to provide a DNA encoding the polypeptide of the present invention.

[0009] The third object of the present invention is to provide a replicable recombinant DNA comprising the DNA.

[0010] The fourth object of the present invention is to provide a transformant transformed by the recombinant DNA.

[0011] The fifth object of the present invention is to provide a process for producing the polypeptide of the present invention by using the transformant.

[0012] The sixth object of the present invention is to provide a process for forming cyclotetrasaccharide from a saccharide with a glucose polymerization degree of 3 or higher and bearing both the α-1,6 glucosidic linkage as a linkage at the non-reducing end and the α-1,4 glucosidic linkage other than the linkage at the non-reducing end by using the polypeptide of the present invention.

[0013] The seventh object of the present invention is to provide cyclotetrasaccharide, which can be obtained using the polypeptide of the present invention, and to its uses.

[0014] The present invention solves the first object by providing a polypeptide which has an activity to form cyclotetrasaccharide having a structure of cyclo{→6}-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→3)-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→6)-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→3)-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→) from a saccharide with a glucose polymerization degree of 3 or higher and bearing both the α-1,6 glucosidic linkage as a linkage at the non-reducing end and the α-1,4 glucosidic linkage other than the linkage at the non-reducing end, and a polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence of either SEQ ID NO:1 or SEQ ID NO:2, or the amino acid sequence having deletion, replacement or insertion of one or more amino acids of SEQ ID NO:1 or SEQ ID NO:2

[0015] The present invention solves the second object described above by providing a DNA encoding the polypeptide.

[0016] The present invention solves the third object described above by providing a replicable recombinant DNA which comprise a DNA encoding the polypeptide and an autonomously replicable vector.

[0017] The present invention solves the fourth object described above by providing a transformant constructed by introducing the recombinant DNA into an appropriate host.

[0018] The present invention solves the fifth object described above by providing a process for preparing the polypeptide, which comprises the steps of culturing the transformant constructed by introducing a replicable recombinant DNA, which contains a DNA encoding the polypeptide and an autonomously replicable vector, into appropriate hosts, and collecting the polypeptide from the resultant culture.

[0019] The present invention solves the sixth object described above by providing a process for producing cyclotetrasaccharide, which comprises a step of forming cyclotetrasaccharide from a saccharide with a glucose polymerization degree of 3 or higher and bearing both the α-1,6 glucosidic linkage as a linkage at the non-reducing end and the α-1,4 glucosidic linkage other than the linkage at the non-reducing end using the polypeptide of the present invention.

[0020] The present invention solves the seventh object described above by producing cyclotetrasaccharide which is obtained by using the polypeptide of the present invention, and providing foods, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals which comprise cyclotetrasaccharide or saccharide compositions containing cyclotetrasaccharide.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0021]FIG. 1 shows the optimum temperature of a polypeptide having α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme activity from a microorganism of the species Bacillus globisporus C11 strain.

[0022]FIG. 2 shows the optimum pH of a polypeptide having α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme activity from a microorganism of the species Bacillus globisporus C11 strain.

[0023]FIG. 3 shows the thermal stability of a polypeptide having α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme activity from a microorganism of the species Bacillus globisporus C11 strain.

[0024]FIG. 4 shows the pH stability of a polypeptide having α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme activity from a microorganism of the species Bacillus globisporus C11 strain.

[0025]FIG. 5 shows the optimum temperature of a polypeptide having α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme activity from a microorganism of the species Bacillus globisporus N75 strain.

[0026]FIG. 6 shows the optimum pH of a polypeptide having α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme activity from a microorganism of the species Bacillus globisporus N75 strain.

[0027]FIG. 7 shows the thermal stability of a polypeptide having α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme activity from a microorganism of the species Bacillus globisporus N75 strain.

[0028]FIG. 8 shows the pH stability of a polypeptide having α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme activity from a microorganism of the species Bacillus globisporus N75 strain.

[0029]FIG. 9 shows the restriction enzyme map of a recombinant DNA, pBGC1, of the present invention. In the figure, a section indicated with black bold line is a DNA encoding a polypeptide having α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme activity from a microorganism of the species Bacillus globisporus C11 strain.

[0030]FIG. 10 shows the restriction enzyme map of a recombinant DNA, pBGC1, of the present invention. In the figure, a section indicated with black bold line is a DNA encoding a polypeptide having α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme activity from a microorganism of the species Bacillus globisporus N75 strain.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT OF THE INVENTION

[0031] The present invention was made based on the finding of absolutely novel and ever unknown enzymes which catalyze the formation of cyclotetrasaccharide from a saccharide with a glucose polymerization degree of 3 or higher and bearing both the α-1,6 glucosidic linkage as a linkage at the non-reducing end and the α-1,4 glucosidic linkage other than the linkage at the non-reducing end. These enzymes can be obtained as polypeptides from the culture of novel microorganisms, strain C11 and strain N75, isolated from soils by the present inventors. The present inventors named the strain C11 “Bacillus globisporus C11”, and deposited it on Apr. 25, 2000, in International Patent Organism Depositary National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology Tsukuba Central 6, 1-1, Higashi 1-Chome Tsukubα-shi, Ibaraki-ken, 305-8566, Japan. The deposition of the microorganism was accepted under the accession number of FERM BP-7144. The present inventors also named the strain N75 “Bacillus globisporus N75”, and deposited it on May 16, 2001, in International Patent Organism Depositary National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology Tsukuba Central 6, 1-1, Higashi 1-Chome Tsukubα-shi, Ibaraki-ken, 305-8566, Japan. The deposition of the microorganism was accepted under the accession number of FERM BP-7591. As disclosed by the present inventors in PTC/JP01/06412, the strains C11 and N75 also produce α-isomalosylglucosaccharide-forming enzyme which form a saccharide with a glucose polymerization degree of 3 or higher and bearing both the α-1,6 glucosidic linkage as a linkage at the non-reducing end and the α-1,4 glucosidic linkage other than the linkage at the non-reducing end from maltodextrin with a glucose polymerization degree of 2 or higher.

[0032] The following are the bacteriological properties of the strains C11 and N75.

[0033] <Bacillus globisporus C11>

[0034] <A. Morphology>

[0035] Characteristic of cells when incubated at 27 ° C. of nutrient broth agar;

[0036] Existing usually in a rod shape of 0.5-1.0×1.5-5 μm,

[0037] Exhibiting no polymorphism,

[0038] Possessing motility,

[0039] Forming spherical spores at an intracellular end And swelled sporangia, and

[0040] Gram stain, positive;

[0041] <B. Cultural Property>

[0042] (1) Characteristics of colonies formed when incubated at 27° C. in nutrient broth agar plate;

[0043] Shape: Circular colony having a diameter of 1-2 mm after 2 days incubation

[0044] Rim: Entire

[0045] Projection: Hemispherical shape

[0046] Gloss: Dull

[0047] Surface: Smooth

[0048] Color: Opaque and pale yellow

[0049] (2) Characteristics of colony formed when incubated at 27° C. in nutrient broth agar slant;

[0050] Growth: Roughly medium

[0051] Shape: Radiative

[0052] (3) Characteristics of colony formed when stub cultured at 27° C. in nutrient broth agar plate;

[0053] Liquefying the agar plate.

[0054] <C. Physiological Properties>

[0055] (1) VP-test: Negative

[0056] (2) Indole formation: Negative

[0057] (3) Gas formation from nitric acid: Positive

[0058] (4) Hydrolysis of starch: Positive

[0059] (5) Formation of pigment: Forming no soluble pigment

[0060] (6) Urease: Positive

[0061] (7) Oxidase: Positive

[0062] (8) Catalase: Positive

[0063] (9) Growth conditions: Growing at a pH of 5.5-9.0 and a temperature of 10-35° C.

[0064] (10) Oxygen requirement: Aerobic

[0065] (11) Utilization of carbon source and acid formation Carbon source Utilization Acid formation D-Glucose + + Glycerol + + Sucrose + + Lactose + +

[0066] (14) Mol% of guanine (G) plus cytosine (C) of DNA: 39%

[0067] <Bacillus globisporus N75>

[0068] <A. Morphology>

[0069] (1) Characteristic of cells when incubated at 27° C. of nutrient broth agar;

[0070] Existing usually in a rod shape of 0.5-1.0×1.5-5 μm,

[0071] Exhibiting no polymorphism,

[0072] Possessing motility,

[0073] Forming spherical spores at an intracellular end

[0074] And swelled sporangia, and

[0075] Gram stain, positive;

[0076] <B. Cultural Property>

[0077] (1) Characteristics of colonies formed when incubated at 27° C. in nutrient broth agar plate;

[0078] Shape: Circular colony having a diameter of 1-2 mm after 2 days incubation

[0079] Rim: Entire

[0080] Projection: Hemispherical shape

[0081] Gloss: Dull

[0082] Surface: Smooth

[0083] Color: Opaque and pale yellow

[0084] (2) Characteristics of colony formed when incubated at 27° C. in nutrient broth agar slant;

[0085] Growth: Roughly medium

[0086] Shape: Radiative

[0087] (3) Characteristics of colony formed when stub cultured at 27° C. in nutrient broth agar plate;

[0088] Liquefying the4 agar plate.

[0089] <C. Physiological Properties>

[0090] (1) VP-test: Negative

[0091] (2) Indole formation: Negative

[0092] (3) Gas formation from nitric acid: Positive

[0093] (4) Hydrolysis of starch: Positive

[0094] (5) Formation of pigment: Forming no soluble pigment

[0095] (6) Urease: Positive

[0096] (7) Oxidase: Positive

[0097] (8) Catalase: Positive

[0098] (9) Growth conditions: Growing at a pH of 5.5-9.0 and a temperature of 10-35° C.

[0099] (10) Oxygen requirement: Aerobic

[0100] (11) Utilization of carbon source and acid formation Carbon source Utilization Acid formation D-Glucose + + Glycerol + + Sucrose + + Lactose + +

[0101] (12) Mol% of guanine (G) plus cytosine (C) of DNA: 40%

[0102] The present inventors purified and characterized the α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme which is obtainable from the culture of Bacillus globisporus C11 (FERM BP-7144) or Bacillus globisporus N75 (FERM BP-7591). As a result, it was revealed that the enzyme has an activity to form cyclotetrasaccharide having a structure of cyclo{→6)-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→3)-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→6)-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→3)-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→} from a saccharide with a glucose polymerization degree of 3 or higher and bearing both the α-1,6 glucosidic linkage as a linkage at the non-reducing end and the α-1,4 glucosidic linkage other than the linkage at the non-reducing end, and is polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequences of SEQ ID NO:1 or SEQ ID NO:2. In addition, the physicochemical properties of the polypeptides are as follows;

[0103] (1) Molecular weight

[0104] Having a molecular weight of about 82,000 to about 132,000 daltons when determined on SDS-PAGE;

[0105] (2) Optimum temperature

[0106] Having an optimum temperature of about 50° C. when incubated at a pH of 6.0 for 30 min;

[0107] (3) Optimum pH

[0108] Having an optimum pH of about 5.5 to 6.0 when incubated at 35° C. for 30min;

[0109] (4) Thermal stability

[0110] Having a thermostable region at temperatures of about 45° C. or lower when incubated at a pH of 6.0 for 60 min;

[0111] (5) pH Stability

[0112] Having a stable pH region at about 4.5 to 10.0 when incubated at 4° C. for 24 hours;

[0113] The following experiments explain the physicochemical properties of the polypeptide having an α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzymatic activity of the present invention.

[0114] Experiment 1

[0115] Preparation of a Polypeptide from Bacillus globisporus

[0116] Experiment 1-1

[0117] Preparation of Crude Polypeptide

[0118] A liquid culture medium consisting 4% (w/v) of “PINE-DEX #4”, a partial starchhydrolyzate, 1.8% (w/v) of “ASAHIMEAST”, a yeast extract, 0.1% (w/v) of dipotassium phosphate, 0.06% (w/v) of sodium phosphate dodeca -hydrate, 0.05% (w/v) of magnesium sulfate hepta-hydrate, and water was placed in 500-ml Erlenmeyer flasks in a respective amount of 100 ml, sterilized by autoclaving at 121° C. for 20 min, cooled and seeded with Bacillus globisporus C11 strain, FERM BP-7144, followed by culturing under rotary-shaking conditions at 27° C. and 230 rpm for 48 hours for a seed culture.

[0119] About 20 L of a fresh preparation of the same liquid culture medium as used in the above seed culture were placed in a 30 L fermentor, sterilized by heating, and then cooled to 27° C. and inoculated with 1% (v/v) of the seed culture, followed by culturing at 27° C. and pH 6.0 to 8.0 for 48 hours under aeration-agitation conditions. After the completion of the culture, about 1.8 units/ml of α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme and about 0.55 unit/ml of α-isomaltosylglucosaccharide-forming enzyme were detected in the resulting culture by measuring enzyme activities. About 18 L of supernatant obtained by centrifugation at 10,000 rpm for 30 min had about 1.7units/ml of α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme activity, i.e., a total activity of about 30,400 units; and 0.51 unit of α-isomaltosylglucosaccharide-forming enzyme activity, i.e., a total enzymatic activity of about 9,180 units. It was revealed that these enzymes were secretion polypeptides secreted in the culture.

[0120] The activity of α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme was measured by the following assay: A substrate solution was prepared by dissolving panose in 100 mM acetate buffer (pH 6.0) to give a concentration of 2% (w/v). A reaction mixture was prepared by mixing 0.5 ml of the substrate solution and 0.5 ml of an enzyme solution, and incubated at 35° C. for 30 min. After stopping the reaction by boiling for 10 min, the amount of glucose formed in the reaction mixture was determined by the glucose oxidase-peroxidase method. One unit of α-isomaltosyl-transferring activity was defined as the amount of the enzyme that forms one μmole of glucose per minute under the above conditions.

[0121] The Activity of α-isomaltosylglucosaccharide-forming enzyme was measured by the following assay: A substrate solution was prepared by dissolving maltotriose in 100 mM acetate buffer (pH 6.0) to give a concentration of 2% (w/v). A reaction mixture was prepared by mixing 0.5 ml of the substrate solution and 0.5 ml of an enzyme solution, and incubated at 35° C. for 60 min. After stopping the reaction by boiling for 10 min, the amount of glucose formed in the reaction mixture was determined by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). One unit of α-isomaltosylglucosaccharide-forming activity was defined as the amount of the enzyme that forms one μmole of maltose per minute under the above conditions. HPLC was carried out using“SHODEX KS-801 column”, Showa Denko K.K., Tokyo, Japan, at a column temperature of 60° C. and a flow rate of 0.5 ml/min of water, and using “RI-8012”, a differential refractometer commercialized by Tosho Corporation, Tokyo, Japan.

[0122] About 18 L of the culture supernatant described above were salted out with 80% saturated ammonium sulfate solution and allowed to stand at 4° C. for 24 hours, and the formed precipitates were collected by centrifugation at 10,000 rpm for 30 min, dissolved in 10 mM sodium phosphate buffer (pH 7.5), and dialyzed against the same buffer to obtain about 416 ml of a crude enzyme solution. The crude enzyme solution had about 28,000 units of α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme and 8,440 units of α-isomaltosylglucosaccharide-forming enzyme. The crude enzyme solution was subjected to ion-exchange column chromatography using “SEPABEADS FP-DA13” gel, an ion-exchange resin commercialized by Mitsubishi Chemical Industries, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan. Both α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme and α-isomaltosylglucosaccharide-forming enzyme were eluted as non-adsorbed fractions without adsorbing on “SEPABEADS FP-DA13” gel. The non-adsorbed fraction was collected and dialyzed against 10 mM sodium phosphate buffer (pH 7.0) with 1 M ammonium sulfate. The dialyzed solution was centrifuged to remove impurities, and subjected to affinity column chromatography using 500 ml of “SEPHACRYL HR S-200” gel, a gel commercialized by Amersham Corp., Div. Amersham International, Arlington heights, Ill., USA. Enzymatically active components adsorbed on “SEPHACRY HR S-200” gel and, when sequentially eluted with a linear gradient decreasing from 1 M to 0 M of ammonium sulfate and a linear gradient increasing from 0 mM to 100 mM of maltotetraose, the α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme and the α-isomaltosylglucosaccharide-forming enzyme were separately eluted, i.e., the former was eluted with a linear gradient of ammonium sulfate at about 0 M and the latter was eluted with a linear gradient of maltotetraose at about 30 mM. Thus, fractions with the α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme activity and those with the α-isomaltosylglucosaccharide-forming enzyme activity were separately collected as crude polypeptides of α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme and α-isomaltosylglucosaccharide-forming enzyme. Further, the polypeptides having an α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme activity or α-isomaltosylglucosaccharide-forming enzyme activity were respectively purified and prepared by the methods described in the below.

[0123] Experiment 1-2

[0124] Purification of a Polypeptide having an α-isomaltosyl-transferring Enzyme Acticity

[0125] The crude polypeptide having an α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme activity obtained in Experiment1-1 was dialyzed against 10 mM sodium phosphate buffer (pH 7.0) with 1 M ammonium sulfate. The dialyzed solution was centrifuged to remove impurities, and subjected to hydrophobic column chromatography using 350 ml of “BUTYL-TOYOPEARL 650M” gel, a hydrophobic gel commercialized by Tosho Corporation, Tokyo, Japan. The enzyme adsorbed on “BUTYL-TOYOPEARL 650M” gel and, when eluted with a linear gradient decreasing from 1 M to 0M of ammonium sulfate, the enzymatically active fractions were eluted with a linear gradient of ammonium sulfate at about 0.3 M, and fractions with the enzyme activity was collected. The collected solution was dialyzed against 10 mM sodium phosphate buffer (pH 7.0) with 1 M ammonium sulfate, and the dialyzed solution was centrifuged to remove impurities, and purified by affinity chromatography using “SEPHACRYL HR S-200” gel. The amount of enzyme activity, specific activity and yield of the α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme in each purification step are in Table 1. TABLE 1 Enzyme* Specific activity activity of enzyme* Yield Purification step (unit) (unit/mg protein) (%) Culture supernatant 30,400 0.45 100 Dialyzed solution after 28,000 1.98 92.1 salting out with ammonium sulfate Elute from ion-exchange 21,800 3.56 71.7 column chromatography Elute from affinity column 13,700 21.9 45.1 chromatography Elute from hydrophobic 10,300 23.4 33.9 column chromatography Elute from affinity column 5,510 29.6 18.1 chromatography

[0126] The finally purified α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme specimen was assayed for purify on gel electrophoresis using a 7.5% (w/v) polyacrylamide gel and detected on the gel as a single protein band, i.e., a high purity specimen.

[0127] Experiment 1-3

[0128] Purification of α-isomaltosylglucosaccharide-forming Enzyme

[0129] The crude polypeptide having α-isomaltosylglucosaccharide-forming enzyme activity, obtained in Experiment 1-1, was dialyzed against 10 mM sodium phosphate buffer (pH 7.0) with 1 M ammonium sulfate. The dialyzed solution was centrifuged to remove impurities, and subjected 15 to hydrophobic column chromatography using 350 ml of “BUTYL-TOYOPEARL 650M” gel, a hydrophobic gel commercialized by Tosho Corporation, Tokyo, Japan. The enzyme was adsorbed on “BUTYL-TOYOPEARL 650M” gel and, when eluted with a linear gradient decreasing from 1 M to 0M of ammonium sulfate, the enzymatic activity was eluted with a linear gradient of ammonium sulfate at about 0.3 M, and fractions with the enzyme activity 5 was collected. The collected solution was dialyzed against 10 mM sodium phosphate buffer (pH 7.0) with 1 M ammonium sulfate, and the dialyzed solution was centrifuged to remove impurities, and purified by affinity chromatography using “SEPHACRYL HR S-200” gel. The amount of enzyme activity, specific activity and yield of the α-isomaltosylglucosaccharide-forming enzyme in each purification step are shown in Table 2. TABLE 2 Enzyme* Specific activity activity of enzyme* Yield Purification step (unit) (unit/mg protein) (%) Culture supernatant 9,180 0.14 100 Dialyzed solution after 8,440 0.60 91.9 salting out with ammonium sulfate Elute from ion-exchange 6,620 1.08 72.1 column chromatography Elute from affinity column 4,130 8.83 45.0 chromatography Elute from hydrophobic 3,310 11.0 36.1 column chromatography Elute from affinity column 2,000 13.4 21.8 chromatography

[0130] The finally purified α-isomaltosylglucosaccharide-forming enzyme specimen was assayed for purify on gel electrophoresis using a 7.5% (w/v) polyacrylamide gel and detected on the gel as a single protein band, i.e., a high purity specimen.

[0131] Experiment 2

[0132] Physicochemical Properties of Polypeptide having an α-isomaltosyl-transferring Enzyme Activity

[0133] Experiment 2-1

[0134] Action

[0135] An aqueous solution containing 10 mM of glucose, 6-O-α-glucosylglucose (isomaltose), 6²-O-α-glucosylmaltose (panose), 6³-O-α-glucosylmaltotriose (isomaltosylmaltose), 6⁴-O-α-glucosylmaltotetraose, or 6⁵-O-α-glucosylmaltopentaose was prepared as substrate solution. To each of the above substrate solution was added two units/mM-substrate of the purified α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme specimen obtained in Experiment 1-2 and incubated at 30° C. and at pH 6.0 for 12 hours. After deionizing by conventional method, the resulting reaction solutions were measured for saccharide composition on HPLC using “MCI GEL CK04SS”, a column commercialized by Mitsubishi Chemical Industries, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, at a column temperature of 80° C. and a flow rate of 0.4 ml/min of water, and using a detector “RI-8012”, a differential refractometer commercialized by Tosho Corporation, Tokyo, Japan. The results are shown in Table 3. TABLE 3 Saccharide Content Substrate in the reaction mixture (%) Glucose Glucose 100 6-O-α-Glucosylglucose 6-O-α-Glucosylglucose 100 6²-O-α-Glucosylmaltose Glucose 32.2 Isomaltose 2.1 6²-O-a-Glucosylmaltose 4.6 Cyclotetrasaccharide 43.5 Isomaltosylpanose 4.8 Isomaltosypanoside 1.8 others 11.0 6³-O-α-Glucosylmaltotriose Maltose 50.6 Isomaltose 2.0 6³-O-α-Glucosylmaltotriose 4.2 Cyclotetrasaccharide 30.8 others 12.4 6⁴-O-α- Isomaltose 1.9 Glucosylmaltotetraose Maltotriose 60.7 Cyclotetrasaccharide 25.6 6⁴-O-α-Glucosylmaltotetraose 3.4 others 8.4 6⁵-O-α- Isomaltose 1.6 Glucosylmaltopentaose Maltotetraose 66.5 Cyclotetrasaccharide 18.2 6⁵-O-α-Glucosylmaltopentaose 4.3 others 9.4

[0136] In Table 3, isomaltosylpanose means two forms of saccharides having the structure of structural formula 1 or 2, and isomaltosylpanoside is a saccharide having the structure of Formula 3.

α-D-Glcp-(1→6)-α-D-Glcp-(1→3)-α-D-Glcp-(1→6)-α-D-Glcp-(1→4)-α-D-Glcp  Formula 1

α-D-Glcp-(1→6)-α-D-Glcp-(1→4)-α-D-Glcp-(1→6)-α-D-Glcp-(1→4)-α-D-Glcp  Formula 2

[0137] Formula 3

[0138] As evident from the results in Table 3, it was revealed that the polypeptide having α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme activity from Bacillus globisporus C11 acted on saccharides with a glucose polymerization degree of 3 or higher and having both the α-1,6-glucosyl linkage at their non-reducing end and the α-1,4 glucosidic linkage other than the linkage at the non-reducing end such as 6²-O-α-glucosylmaltose, 6³-O-α-glucosylmaltotriose, 6⁴-O-a-glucosylmaltotetraose, and 6⁵-O-α-glucosylmaltopentaose, and produced mainly cyclotetrasaccharide and maltooligosaccharide which decreased a glucose polymerization degree of 2 from the substrate. In addition to cyclotetrasaccharide, maltooligosaccharide which decreased a glucose polymerization degree of 2 from the substrate, and the remaining substrate, trace isomaltose considered to be a hydrolyzed product and other saccharide which differs from cyclotetrasaccharide, and considered to be a glucosyltransfer product were detected in the reaction mixture. The yield of cyclotetrasaccharide in dry basis from each substrates, i.e., 6²-O-α-glucosylmaltose, 6³-O-α-glucosylmaltotriose, 6⁴-O-a-glucosylmaltotetraose and 6⁵-O-α-glucosylmaltopentaose, were 43.5%, 30.8%, 25.6% and 18.2%, respectively. No product was detected from glucose and 6-O-α-glucosylglucose.

[0139] Experiment 2-2

[0140] N-terminal Amino Acid Sequence

[0141] The polypeptide having α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme activity had an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:5 at the N-terminal side when the amino acid sequence was analyzed by “gas-phase protein sequencer model 473A”, an apparatus of Applied Biosystems, 850 Lincoln Centre Drive, Foster City, U.S.A.

[0142] Experiment 2-3

[0143] Partial Amino Acid Sequence

[0144] A part of a purified specimen of polypeptide having α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme activity, obtained in Experiment 1-2, was dialyzed against 10 mM Tris-HCl buffer (pH 9.0) at 4° C. for 18 hours, and the dialyzed solution was diluted with a fresh preparation of the same buffer to give a concentration of about one mg/ml. One milliliter of the diluted solution as a test sample was admixed with 10 μg of “Lysyl Endopeptidase” commercialized by Wako Pure Chemicals, Ltd, Tokyo, Japan, and incubated at 30° C. for 22 hours to form peptides. The resulting hydrolyzate was subjected to HPLC to separate the peptides using “μ-BONDAPAK C18 column”, having a diameter of 2.1 mm and a length of 150 mm, a product of Waters Chromatography Div., MILLIPORE Corp., Milford, USA, pre-equilibrated with 0.1% (v/v) trifluoroacetate containing 8% (v/v) acetonitrile, at a flow rate of 0.9 ml/min and at ambient temperature, and using a linear gradient of acetonitrile increasing from 8% (v/v) to 40% (v/v) in 0.1% (v/v) trifluoroacetate over 120 min. Peptide fragments eluted from the column were detected by monitoring the absorbance at a wavelength of 210 nm. Peptide fractions with a retention time of about 22 min, about 38 min, about 40 min, about 63 min and about 71 min were separately collected and dried in vacuo and then dissolved in a solution of 0. 1% (v/v) trifluoroacetate and 50% (v/v) acetonitrile. Five peptide fragments were obtained, and each peptide fragments had amino acid sequences of SEQ ID NO:6 to 10 when these amino acid sequences were analyzed according to the method described in Experiment 2-2.

[0145] Experiment 2-4

[0146] Molecular Weight

[0147] When a purified specimen of polypeptide having α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme activity, obtained by the method in Experiment 1-2, was subjected to SDS-PAGE according to the method reported by U. K. Laemmli in Nature, Vol.227, pp.680-685 (1970), a single protein band having the enzymatic activity was observed at the position corresponding to the molecular weight of about 82,000 to 122,000 daltons. Molecular weight markers used in this experiment were myosin (200,000 daltons), β-galactosidase (116,250 daltons), phosphorylase B (97,400 daltons), serum albumin (66,200 daltons) and ovalbumin (45,000 daltons).

[0148] Experiment 2-5

[0149] Optimum Temperature

[0150] As shown in FIG. 1, when a purified specimen of polypeptide having α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme activity, obtained by the method in Experiment 1-2, was acted on the substrate at various temperatures for 30 min by conventional method, the polypeptide had an optimum temperature at about 50° C.

[0151] Experiment 2-6

[0152] Optimum pH

[0153] As shown in FIG. 2, when a purified specimen of polypeptide having α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme activity, obtained by the method in Experiment 1-2, was acted on the substrate in MacIlvaine buffer of various pHs at 35° C. for 30 min by conventional method, the polypeptide had an optimum pH at about 5.5 to 6.0.

[0154] Experiment 2-7

[0155] Thermal Stability

[0156] As shown in FIG. 3, when a purified specimen of polypeptide having α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme activity, obtained by the method in Experiment 1-2, was incubated in 20 mM acetate buffer (pH 6.0) at various temperatures for 60 min by conventional method, the polypeptide had thermal stability of up to about 40° C.

[0157] Experiment 2-8

[0158] pH Stability

[0159] As shown in FIG. 4, when a purified specimen of polypeptide having α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme activity, obtained by the method in Experiment 1-2, was in MacIlvaine buffer or 50 mM disodium carbonate-sodium bicarbonate buffer of various pHs at 4° C. for 24 hours by conventional method, the polypeptide had pH stability of about 4.5 to about 9.0.

[0160] Experiment 3

[0161] Polypeptide from Bacillus globisporus N75

[0162] Experiment3-1

[0163] Preparation of Crude Polypeptide

[0164] A liquid culture medium consisting 4% (w/v) of “PINE-DEX #4”, a partial starch hydrolyzate, 1.8% (w/v) of “ASAHIMEAST”, a yeast extract, 0.1% (w/v) of dipotassium phosphate, 0.06% (w/v) of sodium phosphate dodecα-hydrate, 0.05% (w/v) of magnesium sulfate hepta-hydrate, and water was placed in 500-ml Erlenmeyer flasks in a respective amount of 100 ml, sterilized by autoclaving at 121° C. for 20 min, cooled and seeded with Bacillus globisporus N75 strain, FERM BP-7591, followed by culturing under rotary-shaking conditions at 27° C. and 230 rpm for 48 hours for a seed culture.

[0165] About 20 L of a fresh preparation of the same liquid culture medium as used in the above seed culture were placed in a 30 L fermentor, sterilized by heating, and then cooled to 27° C. and inoculated with 1% (v/v) of the seed culture, followed by culturing at 27° C. and pH 6.0 to 8.0 for 48 hours under aeration-agitation conditions. The resultant culture, having about 1.1 units/ml of α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme, was centrifuged at 10,000 rpm for 30 min to obtain about 18 L of supernatant. Measurement of the supernatant revealed that it had about 1.1 units/ml of α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme activity, i.e., a total enzyme activity of about 19,800 units; about 0.33 units/ml of α-isomaltosylglucosaccharide-forming enzyme activity, i.e., a total enzyme activity of about 5,490 units. It was revealed that both enzymes were secretion polypeptides detected in the culture supernatant.

[0166] About 18 L of the culture supernatant described above was salted out with 60% saturated ammonium sulfate solution and allowed to stand at 4° C. for 24 hours, and the formed precipitates were collected by centrifugation at 10,000 rpm for 30 min, dissolved in 10 mM Tris-HCl buffer (pH 8.3), and dialyzed against the same buffer to obtain about 450 ml of crude enzyme solution. The crude enzyme solution had about 15,700 units of α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme activity and 4,710 units of α-isomaltosylglucosaccharide-forming enzyme activity. The crude enzyme solution was subjected to ion-exchange column chromatography using “SEPABEADS FP-DA13” gel, disclosed in Experiment 1-1. α-Isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme was eluted as non-adsorbed fraction without adsorbing on “SEPABEADS FP-DA13” gel, and α-isomaltosylglucosaccharide-forming enzyme was adsorbed on “SEPABEADS FP-DA13” gel. Subsequently, α-isomaltosylglucosaccharide-forming enzyme was eluted with a linear gradient of increasing from 0 M to 1 M of sodium chloride, where the enzyme was eluted with the linear gradient of sodium chloride at a concentration of about 0.25 M. Therefore, fractions with α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme and with α-isomaltosylglucosaccharide-forming enzyme were separately collected as crude polypeptide having α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme activity and that having α-isomaltosylglucosaccharide-forming enzyme activity, respectively.

[0167] Further, the polypeptide having α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme and that having α-isomaltosylglucosaccharide-forming enzyme were separately purified and prepared by the methods described in the below.

[0168] Experiment 3-2

[0169] Purification of a Polypeptide having an α-isomaltosyl-transferring Enzyme Acticity

[0170] The crude polypeptide having α-isomaltosyl-transferring activity, obtained in Experiment 3-1, was dialyzed against 10 mM sodium phosphate buffer (pH 7.0) with 1 M ammonium sulfate. The dialyzed solution was centrifuged to remove impurities, and subjected to affinity column chromatography using 500 ml of “SEPHACRYL HR S-200” gel, a gel commercialized by Amersham Corp., Div. Amersham International, Arlington heights, Ill., USA. The polypeptide was adsorbed on “SEPHACRYL HR S-200” gel and, when eluted with a linear gradient decreasing from 1 M to 0 M of ammonium sulfate, the enzymatic activity was eluted with a linear gradient of ammonium sulfate at about 0.3 M, and fractions with the enzyme activity was collected. The collected solution was dialyzed against 10 mM sodium phosphate buffer (pH 7.0) with 1 M ammonium sulfate, and the dialyzed solution was centrifuged to remove impurities, and purified by hydrophobic column chromatography using “BUTYL-TOYOPEARL 650M” gel, a hydrophobic gel commercialized by Tosho Corporation, Tokyo, Japan. The polypeptide was adsorbed on “BUTYL-TOYOPEARL 650M” gel and, when eluted with a linear gradient decreasing from 1 M to 0M of ammonium sulfate, the enzymatic activity was eluted with a linear gradient of ammonium sulfate at about 0.3 M, and fractions with the enzyme activity was collected. The collected solution was dialyzed against 10 mM Tris-HCl buffer (pH 8.0), and the dialyzed solution was centrifuged to remove impurities, and purified by ion-exchange column chromatography using 380 ml of “SuperQ-TOYOPEARL 650C” gel, a ion-exchange gel commercialized by Tosho Corporation, Tokyo, Japan. The polypeptide was eluted as non-adsorbed fraction without adsorbing on “SuperQ-TOYOPEARL 650C” gel. The purified polypeptide specimen having α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme activity was obtained by collecting the fractions. The amount of enzyme activity, specific activity and yield of the α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme in each purification step are shown in Table 4. TABLE 4 Enzyme* Specific activity activity of enzyme* Yield Purification step (unit) (unit/mg protein) (%) Culture supernatant 19,000 0.33 100 Dialyzed solution after 15,700 0.64 82.6 salting out with ammonium sulfate Elute from ion-exchange 12,400 3.56 65.3 column chromatography Elute from affinity column 8,320 11.7 43.8 chromatography Elute from hydrophobic 4,830 15.2 25.4 column chromatography Elute from ion-exchange 3,850 22.6 20.3 column chromatography

[0171] The finally purified α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme specimen was assayed for purify on gel electrophoresis using a 7.5% (w/v) polyacrylamide gel and detected on the gel as a single protein band, i.e., a high purity specimen.

[0172] Experiment 3-3

[0173] Purification of α-isomaltosylglucosaccharide-forming Enzyme

[0174] The crude polypeptide having α-isomaltosylglucosaccharide-forming enzyme activity, obtained in Experiment 3-1, was dialyzed against 10 mM sodium phosphate buffer (pH 7.0) with 1 M ammonium sulfate. The dialyzed solution was centrifuged to remove impurities, and subjected to affinity column chromatography using 500 ml of “SEPHACRYL HR S-200” gel, a gel commercialized by Amersham Corp., Div. Amersham International, Arlington heights, Ill., USA. The enzyme was adsorbed on “SEPHACRYL HR S-200” gel and, when sequentially eluted with a linear gradient decreasing from 1 M to 0 M of ammonium sulfate and a linear gradient increasing from 0 mM to 100 mM of maltotetraose, the enzymatic activity was eluted with a linear gradient of maltotetraose at about 30 mM, and fractions with the enzyme activity was collected. The collected solution was dialyzed against 10 mM sodium phosphate buffer (pH 7.0) with 1 M ammonium sulfate, and the dialyzed solution was centrifuged to remove impurities, and purified by hydrophobic column chromatography using 350 ml of “BUTYL-TOYOPEARL 650M” gel, a hydrophobic gel commercialized by Tosho Corporation, Tokyo, Japan. The enzyme was adsorbed on “BUTYL-TOYOPEARL 650M” gel and, when eluted with a linear gradient decreasing from 1 M to 0 M of ammonium sulfate, the enzymatic activity was eluted with a linear gradient of ammonium sulfate at about 0.3 M, and fractions with the enzyme activity was collected. The collected solution was dialyzed against 10 mM sodium phosphate buffer (pH 7.0) with 1 M ammonium sulfate, and the dialyzed solution was centrifuged to remove impurities, and purified by affinity chromatography using “SEPHACRLY HR S-200” gel. The amount of enzyme activity, specific activity and yield of the α-isomaltosylglucosaccharide-forming enzyme in each purification step are shown in Table 5. TABLE 5 Enzyme* Specific activity activity of enzyme* Yield Purification step (unit) (unit/mg protein) (%) Culture supernatant 5,940 0.10 100 Dialyzed solution after 4,710 0.19 79.3 salting out with ammonium sulfate Elute from ion-exchange 3,200 2.12 53.9 column chromatography Elute from affinity column 2,210 7.55 37.2 chromatography Elute from hydrophobic 1,720 10.1 29.0 column chromatography Elute from affinity column 1,320 12.5 22.2 chromatography

[0175] The finally purified α-isomaltosylglucosaccharide-forming enzyme specimen was assayed for purify on gel electrophoresis using a 7.5% (w/v) polyacrylamide gel and detected on the gel as a single protein band, i.e., a high purity specimen.

[0176] Experiment 4

[0177] Physicochemical Properties of Polypeptide having an α-isomaltosyl-transferring Enzyme Activity

[0178] Experiment 2-1

[0179] Action

[0180] An aqueous solution containing 10 mM of glucose, 6-O-α-glucosylglucose (isomaltose), 6²-O-α-glucosylmaltose (panose), 6³-O-α-glucosylmaltotriose (isomaltosylmaltose), 6⁴-O-αglucosylmaltotetraose, or 6⁵-O-α-glucosylmaltopentaose was prepared as substrate solution. To each of the above substrate solution was added two units/mM-substrate of the purified α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme specimen obtained in Experiment 3-2 and incubated at 30° C. and at pH 6.0 for 12 hours. After deionizing by conventional method, the resulting reaction solutions were measured for saccharide composition on HPLC, disclosed in Experiment 2-1. The results are shown in Table 6. TABLE 6 Saccharide Content Substrate in the reaction mixture (%) Glucose Glucose 100 6-O-α-Glucosylglucose 6-O-α-Glucosylglucose 100 6²-O-α-Glucosylglucose Glucose 31.8 Isomaltose 2.0 6²-O-a-Glucosylglucose 4.4 Cyclotetrasaccharide 43.2 Isomaltosylpanose 6.5 Isomaltosypanoside 2.4 others 9.7 6³-O-α-Glucosylglucose Maltose 50.3 Isomaltose 1.9 6³-O-α-Glucosylglucose 4.5 Cyclotetrasaccharide 30.9 others 12.4 6⁴-O-α-Glucosylglucose Isomaltose 1.5 Maltotriose 60.9 Cyclotetrasaccharide 25.8 6⁴-O-α-Glucosylglucose 3.2 others 8.6 6⁵-O-α-Glucosylglucose Isomaltose 1.4 Maltotetraose 66.6 Cyclotetrasaccharide 18.7 6⁵-O-α-Glucosylglucose 4.2 others 9.1

[0181] As evident from the results in Table 6, it was revealed that the polypeptide having α-isomaltosyl-transferring activity from Bacillus globisporus N75 acted on saccharides with a glucose polymerization degree of 3 or higher and having both the α-1,6-glucosidic linkage as a linkage at the non-reducing end and the α-1,4 glucosidic linkage other than the linkage at the non-reducing ends such as 6²-O-α-glucosylmaltose, 6³-O-α-glucosylmaltotriose, 6⁴-O-α-glucosylmaltotetraose, and 6⁵-O-α-glucosylmaltopentaose, and produced mainly cyclotetrasaccharide and maltooligosaccharides which decreased a glucose polymrization degree of 2 from the substrate. In addition to cyclotetrasaccharide, maltooligosaccharide which decreased a glucose polymerization degree of 2 from the substrate, and the remaining substrate, trace isomaltose considered to be a hydrolyzed product and other saccharide which differs from cyclotetrasaccharide, and considered to be a glucosyltransfer product were detected in the reaction mixture. The yield of cyclotetrasaccharide in dry basis from 6 ²-O-α-glucosylmaltose, 6 3-O-α-glucosylmaltotriose, 6 ⁴-O-α-glucosylmaltotetraose and 6⁵-O-α-glucosylmaltopentaose were 43.2%, 30.9%, 25.8% and 18.7%, respectively. No product was detected from 6-O-α-glucosylglucose.

[0182] Experiment 4-2

[0183] N-terminal Amino Acid Sequence

[0184] The polypeptide having α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme activity, prepared in Experiment 3-2, had an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:5 at N-terminal side when the amino acid sequence was analyzed by “protein sequencer model 473A”, an apparatus of Applied Biosystems, 850 Lincoln Centre Drive, Foster City, U.S.A.

[0185] Experiment 4-3

[0186] Partial Amino Acid Sequence

[0187] A part of a purified specimen of polypeptide having α-isomaltosyl-transferring activity, obtained in Experiment 3-2, was dialyzed against 10 mM Tris-HCl buffer (pH 9.0) at 4° C., and the dialyzed solution was diluted with a fresh preparation of the same buffer to give a concentration of about one mg/ml. One milliliter of the diluted solution as a test sample was admixed with 10 μg of “Lysyl Endopeptidase” commercialized by Wako Pure Chemicals, Ltd, Tokyo, Japan, and incubated at 30° C. for 22 hours to form peptides. The resulting partial hydrolyzate was subjected to HPLC to separate the peptides using “μ-BONDASPHERE C18 column”, having a diameter of 3.9 mm and a length of 150 mm, a product of Waters Chromatography Div., MILLIPORE Corp., Milford, USA, pre-equilibrated with 0.1% (v/v) trifluoroacetate containing 4% (v/v) acetonitrile, at a flow rate of 0.9 ml/min and at ambient temperature, and using a linear gradient of acetonitrile increasing from 8% (v/v) to 42.4% (v/v) in 0.1% (v/v) trifluoroacetate over 90 min. Peptide fragments eluted from the column were detected by monitoring the absorbance at a wavelength of 210 nm. Peptide fractions with a retention time of about 21 min, about 38 min, about 56 min, and about 69 min were separately collected and dried in vacuo and then dissolved in a solution of 0.1% (v/v) trifluoroacetate and 50% (v/v) acetonitrile. Five peptide fragments were obtained, and each peptide fragments had amino acid sequences of SEQ ID NO:8 and 11 to 14 when these amino acid sequences were analyzed according to the method described in Experiment 2-2.

[0188] Experiment 4-4

[0189] Molecular Weight

[0190] When a purified specimen of polypeptide having α-isomaltosyl-transferring activity, obtained by the method in Experiment 3-2, was subjected to SDS-PAGE according to the method disclosed in Experiment 2-4, a single protein band having the enzymatic activity was observed at the position corresponding to the molecular weight of about 92,000 to 132,000 daltons in comparison with molecular markers, commercialized by Bio-Rad Laboratories, Hercules, Calif. 94547, U.S.A., and subjected to SDS-PAGE at the same time.

[0191] Experiment 4-5

[0192] Octimum Temperature

[0193] A purified specimen of polypeptide having α-isomaltosyl-transferring activity, obtained by the method in Experiment 3-2, was acted on the substrate in 20 mM acetate buffer (pH6.0) at various temperatures for 30 min, according to the assay method of α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme disclosed in Experiment 1-1. As shown in FIG. 5, the polypeptide had an optium temperature at about 50 ° C.

[0194] Experiment 4-6

[0195] Octimum pH

[0196] A purified specimen of polypeptide having α-isomaltosyl-transferring activity, obtained by the method in Experiment 3-2, was acted on the substrate in MacIlvaine buffer of various pHs at 35° C. for 30 min according to the assay method of α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme disclosed in Experiment 1-1. As shown inm FIG. 6, the polypeptide had an octimum pH at about 6.0

[0197] Experiment 4-7

[0198] Thermal Stability

[0199] A purified specimen of polypeptide having α-isomaltosyl-transferring activity, obtained by the method in Experiment 3-2, was incubated in 20 mM acetate buffer (pH6.0) at various temperatures for 60 min according to the assay method of α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme disclosed in Experiment 1-1. As shown in FIG. 7, the polypeptide had thermal stability of up to about 45° C.

[0200] Experiment 4-8

[0201] pH Stability

[0202] A purified specimen of polypeptide having α-isomaltosyl-transferring activity, obtained by the method in Experiment 3-2, was incubated in MacIlvaine buffer or 50 mM disodium carbonate-sodium bicarbonate buffer of various pHs at 4° C. for 24 hours according to the assay method of α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme disclosed in Experiment 1-1. As shown in FIG. 8, the polypeptide had pH stability of about 4.5 to about 10.

[0203] Experiment 5

[0204] Recombinant DNA Containing a DNA Encoding a Polypeptide from Bacillus Globisporus C11 and Transformant

[0205] Experiment 5-1

[0206] Preparation of Chromosonal DNA from Bacillus Globisporus C11

[0207] A liquid culture medium consisting 2% (w/v) of “PINE-DEX #4”, a partial starch hydrolyzate, 1.0% (w/v) of dipotassium phosphate, 0.06% (w/v) of sodium phosphate dodeca-hydrate, 0.05% (w/v) of magnesium sulfate hepta-hydrate, and water was placed in 500-ml Erlenmyer flasks in a respective amount of 100 ml, sterilized by autoclaving at 121° C. for 20 min, cooled and inoculated with Bacillus globisporus C11, FERM BP-7144, followed by culturing under rotary-shaking conditions at 27° C. and 230 rpm for 24 hours.The cells collected from the culture by centrifugation were suspended in TES buffer (pH 8.0), the suspended solution was admixed with lysozyme to give a concentration of 0.05% (w/v), and incubated at 37° C. for 30 min. After freezing the lysate at −80° C. for one hour, the lysate was added with TES buffer (pH 9.0)and heated to 60° C. The solution was added with a mixture of TES buffer and phenol, and was vigorously shook for five minute in an ice bath, and the supernatant was collected by centrifugation. The supernatant was added twice volume of cold ethanol, and resulting crude precipitate was collected as a crude chromosomal DNA. The crude chromosomal DNA was dissolved in SSC buffer (pH 7.1), and admixed with 7.5 μg of ribonuclease and 125 μg of proteinase, and incubated 37° C. for one hour. The chromosomal DNA was extracted from the reactant by adding chloroform/isoamylalcohol mixture, then added cold ethanol, and the resulting precipitate containing chromosomal DNA was collected. The purified chromosomal DNA, obtained according to the method described above, was dissolved in SSC buffer (pH 7.1) to give a concentration of about one mg/ml and frozen at −80° C.

[0208] Experiment 5-2

[0209] Preparation of a Recombinant DNA, pBGC1 and a Transformant, BGC1

[0210] One milliliter of purified chromosomal DNA solution, prepared by the method in Experiment 5-1, was admixed with about 35 units of a restriction enzyme, Sau 3AI, and incubated at 37° C. for 20 min for partial digestion of the chromosomal DNA. The resulting DNA fragments corresponding to about 2,000 to 6,000 base pairs were collected by sucrose density-gradient centrifugation. A plasmid vector, Bluescript II SK(+), commercialized by Stratagene Cloning System, was completely digested with a restriction enzyme, Bam HI by conventional method. A recombinant DNA was obtained by ligating 0.5 μg of the digested plasmid vector with about 5 μg of the DNA fragments prepared before by using a “DNA ligation kit”, commercialized by Takara Shuzo Co., Ltd., according to the method described in a document attached with the kit. Then, a gene library was prepared by transforming 100 μl portion of the competent cell, “Epicurian Coli XL2-Blue”, commercialized by Stratagene Cloning System, with the recombinant DNA by conventional competent cell method. The transformants thus obtained as gene library were inoculated into a fresh agar plate medium (pH 7.0) containing 10 g/L of tryptone, 5 g/L of yeast extract, 5 g/L of sodium chloride, 100 mg/L of ampicillin sodium salt, and 50 mg/L of 5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyl-β-galactoside, and incubated at 37° C. for 24 hours. About five thousand white colonies grown on the plate were transferred to and fixed on a nylon membrane, “Hybond-N+”, commercialized by Amasham Bioscience K.K. An oligonucleotide having a nucleotide sequence of “5′-AAYTGGTGGATGWSNAA-3′” was chemically synthesized on the bases of an amino acid sequence of first to sixth of SEQ ID NO:8, which disclosed by the method in Experiment 2-3. A synthetic DNA (probe 1) was obtained by labeling the oligonucleotide with radioisotope using [γ-³²P]ATP and T4 polynucleotide kinase according to the conventional method. Subsequently, four types of transformants showing remarkable hybridization with probe 1 were selected from the colonies fixed on the nylon membrane obtained before, using conventional colony hybridization. The recombinant DNAs were collected from these four types of transformants by conventional method. On the other hand, probe 2 having the nucleotide sequence of “5′-GTNTTYAAYCARTAYAA-3′” was chemically synthesized based on a amino acid sequence of ninth to fourteenth of SEQ ID NO:7 and labeled with radioisotope in the same manner. The recombinant DNAs obtained and probe 2 were used for conventional southern-hybridization, and a recombinant DNA showing a remarkable hybridization with probe 2 was selected. A transformant thus selected was named “BGC1”. According to the conventional method, the transformant, BGC1 was inoculated into L-broth medium (pH 7.0) containing 100 μg/ml of ampicillin sodium salt, and cultured under rotary-shaking conditions at 37° C. for 24 hours. After the completion of the culture, cells were collected by centrifugation, and the recombinant DNA was extracted from the cells by conventional alkaline-SDS method. When the nucleotide sequence of the recombinant DNA was analyzed by conventional dideoxy method, it was revealed that the recombinant DNA contained a DNA having the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO:15, 3,869 base pairs, which originated from Bacillus globisporus C11 (FERM BP-7144). In the recombinant DNA, a DNA having the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO:15 was shown in FIG. 9 with the part of black-bold line, and was ligated at downstream of recognition site of a restriction enzyme, Xba I.

[0211] The amino acid sequence deduced from the nucleotide sequence is as shown in parallel in SEQ ID NO:15. The amino acid sequence was compared with amino acid sequences of polypeptide having α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme activity, i.e., the N-terminal amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:5 disclosed by the method in Experiment 2-2 and the internal partial amino acid sequences of SEQ ID NO:6 to 10 disclose by the method in Experiment 2-3. An amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:5 was completely identical with that of 30th to 48th of the amino acid sequence shown in parallel in SEQ ID NO:15. Amino acid sequences of SEQ ID NO:6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 were completely identical with those of 584th to 597th, 292nd to 305th, 545th to 550th, 66th to 77th, and 390th to 400th of the amino acid sequence shown in parallel in SEQ ID NO:15, respectively. These results indicate that the polypeptide having α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme activity contains the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:1, and that the polypeptide is encoded by the DNA having the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO:3 in the case of Bacillus globisporus C11 (FERM BP-7144). An amino acid sequence of the first to 29th of that showing in parallel in SEQ ID NO:15 was presumed to be a secretion signal sequence of the polypeptide. According to the results described above, it was revealed that the precursor peptide of the polypeptide before secretion had the amino acid sequence shown in parallel in SEQ ID NO:15, and the amino acid sequence was encoded by the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO:15. The recombinant DNA prepared and confirmed the nucleotide sequence as described above was named “pBGC1”.

[0212] Experiment 6

[0213] Preparation of a Recombinant DNA Containing a DNA Encoding Polypeptide from Bacillus globisporus N75 and a Transformant

[0214] Experiment 6-1

[0215] Preparation of Chromosomal DNA from Bacillus globisporus N75

[0216] A liquid culture medium consisting 2% (w/v) of “PINE-DEX #4”, a partial starch hydrolyzate, 1.0% (w/v) of “ASAHIMEAST”, a yeast extract, 0.1% (w/v) of dipotassium phosphate, 0.06% (w/v) of sodium phosphate dodeca-hydrate, 0.05% (w/v) of magnesium sulfate hepta-hydrate, and water was placed in 500-ml Erlenmeyer flasks in a respective amount of 100 ml, sterilized by autoclaving at 121° C. for 20 min, cooled and inoculated with Bacillus globisporus N75, FERM BP-7591, followed by culturing under rotary-shaking conditions at 27° C. and 230 rpm for 24 hours. The cells collected from the culture by centrifugation were suspended in TES buffer (pH 8.0), the suspended solution was admixed with lysozyme to give a concentration of 0.05% (w/v), and incubated at 37° C. for 30 min. After freezing the lysate at −80° C. for one hour, the lysate was added with TES buffer (pH 9.0)and heated to 60° C. The solution was added with a mixture of TES buffer and phenol, and was vigorously shook for five minute in an ice bath, and the supernatant was collected by centrifugation. The supernatant was added twice volume of cold ethanol, and resulting Crude precipitate was collected as crude chromosomal DNA. The crude chromosomal DNA was dissolved in SSC buffer (pH 7.1), and admixed with 7.5 μg of ribonuclease and 125 μg of proteinase, and incubated 37° C. for one hour. The chromosomal DNA was extracted from the reactant by adding chloroform/isoamylalcohol mixture, then added cold ethanol, and the resulting precipitate containing chromosomal DNA was collected. The purified chromosomal DNA, obtained according to the method described above, was dissolved in SSC buffer (pH 7.1) to give a concentration of about one mg/ml and frozen at −80° C.

[0217] Experiment 6-2

[0218] Preparation of a Recombinant DNA, pBGN1 and a Transformant, BGN1

[0219] One hundred μl (0.1 ml) of purified chromosomal DNA solution, prepared by the method in Experiment 6-1, was admixed with about 100 units of a restriction enzyme, Sac I, and incubated at 37° C. for 6 hours to digest the chromosomal DNA. The resulting DNA fragments were separated by agarose gel electrophoresis, and DNA fragments corresponding to about 3,000 to 7,000 base pairs were collected using a DNA purification kit, “GENECLEAN II KIT”, commercialized by Quantum Biotechnologies, Carlsbad, Calif. 92008, U.S.A., according to the method described in a document attached with the kit. A plasmid vector, Bluescript II SK(+), commercialized by Stratagene Cloning System, was completely digested with a restriction enzyme, Sac I. A recombinant DNA was obtained by ligating 0.5 μg of the digested plasmid vector with about 5 μg of the DNA fragments prepared before by using a “DNA ligation kit”, commercialized by Takara Shuzo Co., Ltd., according to the method described in a document attached with the kit. Then, a gene library was prepared by transforming 100 μl portion of the competent cell, “Epicurian Coli XL2-Blue”, commercialized by Stratagene Cloning System, with the recombinant DNA by conventional competent cell method. The transformants thus obtained as gene library were inoculated into a fresh agar plate medium (pH 7.0) containing 10 g/L of tryptone, 5 g/L of yeast extract, 5 g/L of sodium chloride, 100 mg/L of ampicillin sodium salt, and 50 mg/L of 5-bromo-4-chloro-3-indolyl-β-galactoside, and incubated at 37° C. for 24 hours. About four thousand white colonies grown on the plate were transferred to and fixed on a nylon membrane, “Hybond-N+”, commercialized by Amasham Bioscience K.K. An oligonucleotide having a nucleotide sequence of “5′-AAYTGGTGGATGWSNAA-3′” was chemically synthesized on the bases of an amino acid sequence of first to sixth of SEQ ID NO:8, which disclosed by the method in Experiment 2-3. A synthetic DNA (probe 1) was obtained by labeling the oligonucleotide with radioisotope using [γ-³²P]ATP and T4 polynucleotide kinase according to the conventional method. Subsequently, two types of transformant showing remarkable hybridization with probe 1 were selected from the colonies fixed on the nylon membrane obtained before, using conventional colony hybridization. The recombinant DNAs were collected from these two types of transformant by conventional method. On the other hand, probe 2 having the nucleotide sequence of “5′-GAYTGGATHGAYTTYTGGTTYGG-3′” was chemically synthesized based on a amino acid sequence of eighth to fifteenth of SEQ ID NO:14 and labeled with radioisotope in the same manner. The recombinant DNAs obtained and probe 2 were used for conventional southern-hybridization, and a recombinant DNA showing a remarkable hybridization with probe 2 was selected. A transformant thus selected was named “BGN1”. According to the conventional method, the transformant, BGN1 was inoculated into L-broth medium (pH 7.0) containing 100 μg/ml of ampicillin sodium salt, and cultured under rotary-shaking conditions at 37° C. for 24 hours. After the completion of the culture, cells were collected by centrifugation, and the recombinant DNA was extracted from the cells by conventional alkaline-SDS method. When the nucleotide sequence of the recombinant DNA was analyzed by conventional dideoxy method, it was revealed that the recombinant DNA contained a DNA having the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO:16, 4,986 base pairs, which originated from Bacillus globisporus N75 (FERM BP-591). In the recombinant DNA, a DNA having the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO:16 was shown in FIG. 10 with the part of black-bold line, and was ligated at downstream of recognition site of a restriction enzyme, Sac I.

[0220] The amino acid sequence deduced from the nucleotide sequence is as shown in parallel in SEQ ID NO:16. The amino acid sequence was compared with amino acid sequences of polypeptide having α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme activity, i.e., the N-terminal amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:5 disclosed by the method in Experiment 4-2 and the internal partial amino acid sequences of SEQ ID NO:8 and 11 to 14 disclose by the method in Experiment 4-3. An amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:5 was completely identical with that of 30th to 48th of the amino acid sequence shown in parallel in SEQ ID NO:16. Amino acid sequences of SEQ ID NO:8, 11, 12, 13, and 14 were completely identical with those of 545th to 550th, 565th to 582nd, 66th to 83rd, 390th to 406th, and 790th to 809th of the amino acid sequence shown in parallel in SEQ ID NO:16, respectively. These results indicate that the polypeptide having α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme activity contains the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:2, and that the polypeptide is encoded by the DNA having the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO:4 in the case of Bacillus globisporus N75 (FERM BP-7591). An amino acid sequence of the first to 29th of that showing in parallel in SEQ ID NO:16 was presumed to be a secretion signal sequence of the polypeptide. According to the results described above, it was revealed that the precursor peptide of the polypeptide before secretion had the amino acid sequence shown in parallel in SEQ ID NO:16, and the amino acid sequence was encoded by the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO:16. The recombinant DNA prepared and confirmed the nucleotide sequence as described above was named “pBGN1”.

[0221] Experiment 7

[0222] Production of Polypeptides having α-isomaltosyl-transferring Enzyme Activity by Transformants

[0223] Experiment 7-1

[0224] A Transformant, BGC1

[0225] A liquid culture medium consisting 5 g/L of “PINE-DEX #4”, a partial starch hydrolyzate, 20 g/L of polypeptone, 20 g/L of yeast extract, 1 g/L of sodium phosphate dodeca-hydrate, and water was placed in a 500-ml Erlenmeyer flask in a amount of 100 ml, sterilized by autoclaving at 121° C. for 15 min, and cooled. Then, the liquid medium was sterilely set to pH 7.0, and sterilely admixed with 10 mg of ampicillin sodium salt. A transformant, BGC1, obtained by the method in Experiment 5-2, was inoculated into the above liquid medium, and cultured at 27° C. and for 48 hours under aeration-agitation conditions. To investigate the location of the polypeptide in the culture, cells and supernatant were separately collected by conventional centrifugation. In the case of the cells, whole-cell extract, obtained by ultrasonic disruption, and periplasmic extract, obtained by osmotic shock procedure were prepared separately. In the case of ultrasonic disruption, cells were suspended in 10 mM sodium phosphate buffer (pH 7.0), and then disrupted in a ice bath using a ultrasonic homogenizer, “model UH-600”, commercialized by MST Corporation, Aichi, japan. In the case of osmotic shock procedure, cells were washed with 10 mM Tris-HCl buffer (pH 7.3) containing 30 mM sodium chloride, and the washed cells were suspended in 33 mM Tris-HCl buffer (pH 7.3) containing 200 g/L of sucrose and 1 mM EDTA, shook at 27° C. for 20 min, and then centrifuged to collect the cells. Subsequently, the cells were suspended in 0.5 mM magnesium chloride solution pre-cooled at about 4° C., and shook in ice bath for 20 min to extract periplasmic fraction. α-Isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme activities of culture supernatant, whole-cell extract and periplasmic extract, prepared as described above, were assayed, and those values were expressed in terms of the activities/ml-culture, respectively. The results are shown in Table 7. TABLE 7 α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme activity Sample (units/ml-culture) Culture supernatant 0.0 Whole-cell extract 3.4 Periplasmic extract 3.0

[0226] As evident from the results in Table 7, it was revealed that the transformant, E. coli BGC1 produced the polypeptide having α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme activity of the present invention intracellularly, and secreted most of it in periplasmic fraction.

[0227] As the first control experiment, E. coli XL2-Blue was cultured with the same conditions in the case of the transformant described above except for the addition of ampicillin, and a supernatant and a cell-extract were prepared from the culture. As the second control experiment, Bacillus globisporus C11, FERM BP-7144, was cultured with the same conditions in the case of the transformant described above except for the addition of ampicillin, and a supernatant and a cell-extract were prepared from the culture. In the first control experiment, the enzyme activity was not detected from either of the culture supernatant and the cell-extract. In the second control experiment, the enzyme activity of the culture supernatant and the cell-extract were about 1.2 units and about 0.1 units, respectively, and the total enzyme activity per one milliliter-culture was about 1.3 units. Compared with the total enzyme activity, 3.4 units/ml-culture, of the transformant BGC1, the enzyme activity was evidently low-level values.

[0228] The periplasmic fraction was further purified by salting out, dialysis and successive column chromatographies on “SEPABEADS FP-DA13” gel, “SEPHACRYL HR S-200” gel, and “BUTYL-TOYOPEARL 650M” gel according to the methods described in Experiment 1, and the purified polypeptide was analyzed according to the methods described in Experiment 2. As the results, the molecular weight was about 82,000 to 122,000 daltons by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, the isoelectric point was about 5.1 to 6.1 by polyacrylamide gel isoelectrophoresis, the optimum temperature of α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme activity was about 50° C., the optimum pH of the enzyme was about 5.5 to 6.0, the thermal stability was up to about 40° C., and the pH stability was in the range of about pH 4.5 to about 9. These physicochemical properties were practically identical to those of the polypeptide having α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme activity prepared in Experiment 1. The results described above indicate that recombinant DNA techniques enable to produce polypeptide having the α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme activity of the present invention stably and in large scale and at a relatively low cost.

[0229] Experiment 7-2

[0230] A Transformant, BGN1

[0231] A liquid culture medium consisting 5 g/L of “PINE-DEX #4”, a partial starch hydrolyzate, 20 g/L of polypeptone, 20 g/L of yeast extract, 1 g/L of sodium phosphate dodec a-hydrate, and water was placed in a 500-ml Erlenmeyer flask in a amount of 100 ml, sterilized by autoclaving at 121° C. for 15 min, and cooled. Then, the liquid medium was sterilely set to pH 7.0, and sterilely admixed with 10 mg of ampicillin sodium salt. A transformant, BGN1, obtained by the method in Experiment 6-2, was inoculated into the above liquid medium, and cultured at 27° C. and for 48 hours under aeration-agitation conditions. To investigate the location of the polypeptide in the culture, cells and supernatant were separately collected by conventional centrifugation. As described in Experiment 7-1, whole-cell extract, obtained by ultrasonic disruption, and periplasmic extract, obtained by osmotic shock procedure were prepared separately. α-Isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme activities of culture supernatant, whole-cell extract and periplasmic extract were assayed, and those values were expressed in terms of the activities/ml-culture, respectively. The results are shown in Table 8. TABLE 8 α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme activity Sample (units/ml-culture) Culture supernatant 0.2 Whole-cell extract 3.1 Periplasmic extract 2.9

[0232] As evident from the results in Table 8, it was revealed that the transformant, E. coli BGN1 produced the polypeptide having α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme activity of the present invention intracellularly, and secreted most of it in periplasmic fraction. The enzyme activity was also detected in culture supernatant.

[0233] As the first control experiment, E. coli XL2-Blue was cultured with the same conditions in the case of the transformant described above except for the addition of ampicillin, and a supernatant and a cell-extract were prepared from the culture. As the second control experiment, Bacillus globisporus N75, FERM BP-7591, was cultured with the same conditions in the case of the transformant described above except for the addition of ampicillin, and a supernatant and a cell-extract were prepared from the culture. In the first control experiment, the enzyme activity was not detected from either of the culture supernatant and the cell-extract. In the second control experiment, the enzyme activity of the culture supernatant and the cell-extract were about 0.7 units and about 0.1 units, respectively, and the total enzyme activity per one milliliter-culture was about 0.8 units. Compared with the total enzyme activity, 3.3 units/ml-culture, of the transformant BGN1, the enzyme activity was evidently low-level values.

[0234] The periplasmic fraction was further purified by salting out, dialysis and successive column chromatographies on “SEPABEADS FP-DA13” gel, “SEPHACRYL HR S-200” gel, and “BUTYL-TOYOPEARL 650M” gel according to the methods described in Experiment 3, and the purified polypeptide was analyzed according to the methods described in Experiment 4. As the results, the molecular weight was about 92,000 to 132,000 daltons by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, the isoelectric point was about 7.3 to 8.3 by polyacrylamide gel isoelectrophoresis, the optimum temperature of α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme activity was about 50° C., the optimum pH of the enzyme was about 6.0, the thermal stability was up to about 45° C., and the pH stability was in the range of about pH 4.5 to about 10. These physicochemical properties were practically identical to those of the polypeptide having α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme activity prepared in Experiment 3. The results described above indicate that recombinant DNA techniques enable to produce polypeptide having the α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme activity of the present invention stably and in large scale and at a relatively low cost.

[0235] As described above, a polypeptide having an activity to form a cyclotetrasaccharide from a saccharide with a glucose polymerization degree of 3 or higher and bearing both the α-1,6 glucosidic linkage as a linkage at the non-reducing end and the α-1,4 glucosidic linkage other than the linkage at the non-reducing end, comprising amino acid sequences of either SEQ ID NO:1 or SEQ ID NO:2, or the amino acid sequences having deletion, replacement or insertion of one or more amino acids of SEQ ID NO:1 or SEQ ID NO:2, is found as one of the product of a long studies by the present inventors, and has unique physicochemical properties in comparison with the enzymes ever known. The present invention intends to create the polypeptide by applying recombinant DNA techniques. The following explain the polypeptide of the present invention, its production processes and its uses in detail with the references of examples.

[0236] The polypeptide as referred to in the present invention means the whole polypeptides which have an activity to form a cyclotetrasaccharide from a saccharide with a glucose polymerization degree of 3 or higher and bearing both the α-1,6 glucosidic linkage as a linkage at the non-reducing end and the α-1,4 glucosidic linkage other than the linkage at the non-reducing end, and comprises amino acid sequences of either SEQ ID NO:1 or SEQ ID NO:2, or the amino acid sequences having deletion, replacement or addition of one or more amino acids of SEQ ID NO:1 or SEQ ID NO:2. The polypeptide of the present invention usually comprises a solved amino acid sequence, for example, amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or homologous amino acid sequences of those. Mutants having the homologous amino acid sequences with SEQ ID NO:1 or SEQ ID NO:2 can be obtained by deleting, replacing or adding one or more, i.e., at least one or two, according to the situation, 1-50, 1-30, or 1-10 amino acids of SEQ ID NO:1 or SEQ ID NO:2 without altering the inherent physicochemical properties of the enzyme practically. Even using the same DNA, the post-translational modification of the polypeptide by extra-/intra-cellular enzymes of host is affected by various conditions such as kinds of host, nutrients or composition of culture media, temperatures or pHs for the cultivation of a transformant having the DNA. In such conditions, it is possible to arise some mutants having deletion or replacement of one or more, i.e., at least one or two, according to the situation, 1-30, 1-20, or 1-10 amino acids of N-terminal region of SEQ ID NO:1 or SEQ ID NO:2, further, or having addition of one or more, i.e., at least one or two, according to the situation, 1-30, 1-20, or 1-10 amino acids to those N-terminus, without altering the inherent activity. It is proper that the polypeptide of the present invention includes these mutants as far as they have desired physicochemical properties.

[0237] The polypeptide of the present invention can be obtained by the steps of introducing the DNA of the present invention into appropriate hosts, and collecting from the culture of the transformants obtained. The transformant usable in the present invention is a transformant containing a DNA comprising, for example, nucleotide sequence, from the 5′-terminus, of SEQ ID NO:3, SEQ ID NO:4, that having deletion, replacement or insertion of one or more nucleotides of those, anti-sense nucleotide sequence of those, or that having replacement of one or more nucleotides based on gene-degeneracy without altering the amino acid sequence encoded. The nucleotide sequence having replacement of one or more, i.e., at least one or two, according to the situation, 1-190, 1-60, or 1-30 nucleotides of SEQ ID:3 or SEQ ID NO:4 based on gene-degeneracy without altering the amino acid sequence encoded can be used as the nucleotide sequence described above.

[0238] The DNA of the present invention comprises a DNA originated from the nature and that synthesized artificially as far as the DNA has the nucleotide sequences described above. Microorganisms belonging the genus Bacillus, for example, Bacillus globisporus C11 (FERM BP-7144) and Bacillus globisporus N74 (FERM BP-7591) were usable as the natural sources. A gene containing the DNA of the present invention can be obtained from the cells of these microorganisms. Specifically, a gene containing the DNA can be released extracellularly by the steps of inoculating the microorganism into a nutrient medium, culturing about one to three days under aerobic conditions, collecting the cells from the culture, treating the cells with cell-lysis enzymes such as lysozyme and β-glucanase or with ultrasonication. In addition to the methods described above, use of protein-hydrolyzing enzymes such as proteinases, detergents such as sodium dodecyl sulfate and freeze-thaw method are also applicable. The objective DNA can be obtained from the disrupted cells using conventional methods in the art, for example, such as phenol-extraction, alcohol-precipitation, centrifugation and ribonuclease-treatment. To synthesize the DNA artificially, chemical synthesis of the DNA based on the nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO:3 or SEQ ID NO:4 is applicable. PCR-method is also applicable to obtain the DNA using a gene containing the DNA as template and appropriate chemically synthetic DNA as a primer. The DNA can be obtained by the steps of inserting the chemically synthetic DNA encoding SEQ ID NO:1 or SEQ ID NO:2 into appropriate autonomously replicable vector, introducing the resultant recombinant DNA into appropriate hosts, culturing the resultant transformant, collecting the cells from the culture, and collecting the recombinant DNA containing the DNA from the cells.

[0239] The DNAs are usually introduced into host-cells as the form of recombinant DNAs. Recombinant DNAs are usually constructed by a DNA and an autonomously replicable vector, and can be relatively easily prepared by the conventional recombinant DNA techniques if the DNA is obtained. The vectors, for instance, plasmid vectors such as pBR322, pUC18, Bluescript II SK(+), pUB110, pTZ4, pC194, pHV14, TRp7, YEp7 and pBS7; or phage vectors such as λgt·λc, λgt·λb, ρ11, φ1 and φ105 can be used. To express the DNAs of the present invention in E. coli, pBR322, pUC18, Bluescript II SK(+), λgt·λc and λgt·λb are preferable. To express the DNAs of the present invention in B. subtilis, pUB110, pTZ4, pC194, ρ11, φ1 and φ105 are preferable. Plasmids, pHV14, TRp7, YEp7 and pBS7 are useful in the case of replicating the recombinant DNAs in two or more hosts. In order to insert the DNA into these vectors, conventional method used in the art can be used. Specifically, the DNA is inserted into a vector by the steps of cleaving a gene containing the DNA and autonomously replicable vectors by restriction enzymes and/or ultrasonication and ligating the resulting DNA fragment and the resulting vector fragment. The ligation of the DNA fragment and the vector fragment is easy by using a type II-restriction enzymes, particularly, such as Sau 3AI, Eco RI, Hind III, Ban HI, Sal I, Xba I, Sac I and Pst I, for cleaving genes and vectors. After the annealing of the both, if necessary, the desired recombinant DNA is obtainable by ligating them in vivo or in vitro using a DNA ligase. The recombinant DNA, thus obtained, is unlimitedly replicable by the steps of introducing into appropriate hosts and culturing the resultant transformants.

[0240] The recombinant DNA thus obtained can be introduced into appropriate host-microorganisms such as E. coli, B. subtilis, Actinomyces and yeasts. The desired clones can be obtained from the transformants by applying the colony-hybridization method or selecting by the steps of culturing in nutrient media containing saccharides with a glucose polymerization degree of 3 or higher and bearing both the α-1,6 glucosidic linkage residue as a linkage at the non-reducing end and the α-1,4 glucosidic linkage other than the linkage at the non-reducing end, and selecting strains producing cyclotetrasaccharide from the saccharides.

[0241] The transformants, thus obtained, produce the polypeptide of the present invention extra/intracellularly when cultured in nutrient media. Conventional liquid media which are supplimented with carbon sources, nitrogen sources and minerals, furthermore, if necessary, with trace-nutrients such as amino acid and vitamins, are usually used as the nutrient media. Examples of carbon sources are saccharides including starch, starch hydrolyzate, glucose, fructose, sucrose, α,α-trehalose, α,β-trehalose and β,β-trehalose. Examples of nitrogen sources are nitrogen-containing inorganic- or organic-substances including ammonia, ammonium salts, urea, nitrate, peptone, yeast extract, defatted soybean, corn-steep liquor and meat extract. Cultures containing the polypeptide is obtainable by the steps of inoculating the transformants into the nutrient media, culturing for about one to six days under aerobic conditions such as aeration and agitation conditions while keeping the temperature and pH, usually, at 20-40° C., and pH 2-10. Although the culture can be used intact as enzyme preparation, the polypeptides of the present invention are usually, if necessary, separated from cells or cell debris and purified before use by filtration or centrifugation after extracting from cells using osmotic shock procedure or detergent-treatment, or disrupting cells by ultrasonication or using cell-lysis enzymes. The polypeptides can be purified by applying the purification procedures for polypeptide commonly used, for example, appropriate combination of one or more procedures such as concentration, salting out, dialysis, precipitation, gel filtration chromatography, ion-exchange chromatography, hydrophobic chromatography, affinity chromatography, gel electrophoresis and isoelectrofocusing.

[0242] The polypeptides of the present invention have unique properties of having an activity to form a cyclotetrasaccharide from saccharides with a glucose polymerization degree of 3 or higher and bearing both the α-1,6-glucosidic linkage as a linkage at the non-reducing end and the α-1,4 glucosidic linkage other than the linkage at the non-reducing end, and comprising amino acid sequences of SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2 or the amino acid sequences having deletion, replacement or insertion of one or more amino acids of SEQ ID NO:1 or SEQ ID NO:2. Cyclotetrasaccharide produced by the action of the polypeptide of the present invention shows no amino-carbonyl reactivity and less browning and deterioration because of its non-reducibility. The saccharide also has an inclusion ability of volatile substances such as ethyl alcohol and acetic acid because of its cyclic structure. Furthermore, cyclotetrasaccharide has useful features such as mild and low sweetness those which less spoils the inherent tastes of foods by excessive sweetness, low-fermentability and low digestibility good for dietary-fibers.

[0243] The followings explain the formation of cyclotetrasaccharide. Cyclotetrasaccharide can be obtained by acting the polypeptide of the present invention on the substrates, saccharides with a glucose polymerization degree of 3 or higher and bearing both the α-1,6 glucosidic linkage as a linkage at the non-reducing end and α-1,4 glucosidic linkage other than the linkage at the non-reducing end. The saccharides can be obtained as transfer-products by acting α-glucosidase, dextrindextranase or α-isomaltosylglucosaccharide-forming enzyme which is disclosed in PTC/JP01/06412 by the present inventors on starch, starchy compounds such as amylopectin, amylose and glycogen, or those partial hydrolyzates obtained by using acids and/or amylases. The saccharides can also be obtained by acting β-amylase and pullulanase on pullulan. Examples of these saccharide are one or more saccharides with a glucose polymerization degree of 3 or higher and bearing both the α-1,6 glucosidic linkage as a linkage at the non-reducing end and α-1,4 glucosidic linkage other than the linkage at the non-reducing end such as 6²-O-α-glucosylmaltose, 6³-O-β-glucosylmaltotriose, 6⁴-O-α-glucosylmaltotetraose and 6⁵-O-α-glucosylmaltopentaose.

[0244] In the process for the production of cyclotetrasaccharide, the polypeptide of the present invention can be advantageously added to act in the beginning, course, or end of the formation of the saccharide with a glucose polymerization degree of 3 or higher and bearing both the α-1,6 glucosidic linkage as a linkage at the non-reducing end and the α-1,4 glucosidic linkage other than the linkage at the non-reducing end. Usually, the polypeptide of the present invention is allowed to act on appropriate solutions containing one or more saccharides described above as the substrate with keeping desired temperature and pH until when desired amount of cyclotetrasaccharide is formed. Although the enzymatic reaction proceeds under the substrate concentration of about 0.1%(w/w), one percent or higher substrate concentration (throughout the specification, “%(w/w)” is abbreviated as “%” hereinafter, unless specified otherwise), more preferably, 5-50% is used for an industrial scale production. The temperatures for the enzymatic reaction used in the present invention are those which proceed the enzymatic reaction, i.e., those up to about 60° C., preferably, about 30° C. to about 50° C. The pHs for the enzymatic reaction are usually set to 4.5 to 8, preferably about 5.5 to about 7. Since the amount of the polypeptide of the present invention is closely related to the time for the reaction, those can be appropriately set depending on the enzymatic reaction efficiency. The polypeptide can be advantageously used as an immobilized polypeptide by immobilizing it to appropriate carriers using conventional procedures.

[0245] The reaction mixture, obtained from the reaction described above, usually includes cyclotetrasaccharide, glucose, maltodextrins such as maltose, a saccharide having a glucose polymerization degree of 3 or higher and having both the α-1,6 glucosidic linkage as a linkage at the non-reducing end and the α-1,4 glucosidic linkage other than the linkage at the non-reducing end, and can be used intact as cyclotetrasaccharide-containing solution. After allowing the polypeptide of the present invention to act the substrate, if necessary, contaminating oligosaccharides in the solution can be hydrolyzed by one or more enzymes selected from the group comprising α-amylase, β-amylase, glucoamylae, and α-glucosidase. Usually, the sugar solution can be used after further purification. One or more conventional methods, for example, selected from the group of decolorization with activated charcoal, desalting by H— or OH—form ion exchanger resin, and column chromatographies such as ion-exchange column chromatography, activated charcoal column chromatography, and silica gel column chromatography, separation using organic solvents such as alcohol and acetone, membrane separation using adequate separability, fermentation by microorganism capable of utilizing or decomposing the contaminating saccharides without utilizing cyclotetrasaccharide, such as Lactobacillus, Acetobacter and yeast, and alkaline-treatment to decompose the remaining reducing sugars can be advantageously used as the purification procedures. Particularly, ion-exchange chromatography is preferably used as an industrial scale production method; column chromatography using strong-acid cation exchange resin as disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Kokai Nos. 23,799/83 and 72,598/98. Using the column chromatography, the contaminating saccharide can be removed to advantageously produce cyclotetrasaccharide with an improved content of the objective saccharide or saccharide compositions comprising the same. In this case, any one of fixed-bed, moving bed, semi-moving bed, batch, semi-continuous, and continuous methods can be appropriately used.

[0246] The resulting cyclotetrasaccharide or saccharide compositions comprising the same with an improved content are aqueous solutions containing cyclotetrasaccharide, usually 10% or more, d.s.b., preferably 40% or more, d.s.b. Usually, the resulting cyclotetrasaccharide or saccharide compositions comprising the same can be concentrated into syrup products, and optionally they can be further dried into powdery products. To produce cyclotetrasaccharide crystals, usually saccharide solution comprising cyclotetrasaccharide purified as described above, preferably cyclotetrasaccharide solution, having a concentration of about 40% or more, d.s.b., can be used. In the case to produce cyclotetrasaccharide penta- to hexa-hydrate crystals, usually, the saccharide solutions are brought to supersaturated solution, for example, having a concentration of about 40-90%, and are placed in a crystallizer, and then gradually cooled while stirring in the presence of 0.1-20%, d.s.b., of a seed crystal with a temperature keeping super-saturation, preferably, 10-90° C., to produce massecuites containing the crystals. In the case to produce cyclotetrasaccharide mono-hydrate or anhydrous crystals, the super-saturation conditions of higher temperature and higher concentration are used. The methods to collect cyclotetrasaccharide crystals and molasses with such crystals include, for example, conventional methods such as separation, block pulverization, fluidized granulation, and spray drying methods. Cyclotetrasaccharide mono-hydrate and anhydrous crystals can be produced by dehydrating and drying cyclotetrasaccharide penta- to hexa-hydrate crystals. The resulting cyclotetrasaccharide crystal or high cyclotetrasaccharide content powder is non-reducing or less reducing white powder having delicate and mild low-sweetness, and is stable saccharide having high tolerance to acid and thermal stability. The powder is almost free of browning, smelling and deterioration of materials even when mixed or processed therewith: the materials are particularly, for example, amino acid-containing substances such as amino acids, oligopeptides, and proteins. Furthermore, the powder has low hygroscopicity and is capable of preventing adhesion and solidification of powdery substances.

[0247] Since cyclotetrasaccharide has inclusion ability, it effectively inhibits the dispersion and quality deterioration of flavorful components and effective ingredients. Therefore, cyclotetrasaccharide can be advantageously used as flavor-retaining agent and stabilizer. For such a purpose, if necessary, the combination use of cyclotetrasaccharide and other cyclic sacchride(s) such as cyclodextrins, branched cyclodextrins, cyclodextrans and cyclofructans can be advantageously used to improve the stabilizing effects.

[0248] Since cyclotetrasaccharide is not hydrolyzed by amylase and α-glucosidase, it is substantially free of assimilation by the body when orally administrated. Also, the saccharide is not substantially assimilated by intestinal bacteria, and therefore it can be used as an extremely-low caloric water-soluble dietary fiber. In other words, although cyclotetrasaccharide has a weight and volume to give a feeling of fullness, it is not substantially assimilated when orally administrated. Therefore, it can be advantageously used as low-caloric food material and dietary food material. Cycoltetrasaccharide can be also used as a sweetener substantially free from causing dental caries because it is scarcely assimilated by dental caries-inducing bacteria.

[0249] Cyclotetrasaccharide per se is a natural sweetener with a good acid-tolerance, alkaline-tolerance and thermal stability but with no toxicity and harm. Because of these, in the case of crystalline product, it can be advantageously used for tablets and sugar-coated tablets in combination with binders such as pullulan, hydroxyethyl starch, and polyvinylpyrrolidone. Furthermore, cyclotetrasaccharide has properties of osmosis-controlling ability, filler-imparting ability, gloss-imparting ability, moisture-retaining ability, viscosity, syneresis -preventing ability, solidification-preventing ability, flavor-retaining ability, stability, crystallization-preventing ability for other sugars, insubstantial fermentability, starch retrogradation-preventing ability, protein denaturation-preventing ability, lipid deterioration-preventing ability, etc.

[0250] Thus, cyclotetrasaccharide and the saccharide compositions comprising the same can be used intact as a sweetener, low-fermentable food material, low-digestive food material, low-cariogenic food material, low-caloric food material, taste-improving agent, flavor-improving agent, quality-improving agent, preventive of syneresis, preventive of solidification, flavor-retaining agent, preventive of starch retrogradation, preventive of protein denaturation, preventive of lipid deterioration, stabilizer, excipient, inclusion agent, base of pulverization, etc. If necessary, the combination use of cyclotetrasaccharide and conventional materials can be advantageously used as various compositions, for example, food products, tobacco, cigarette, feeds, pet foods, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals. seasoning, color-imparting agent, flavor-imparting agent, reinforcing agent, emulsifying agent, preventive of oxidation, preventive of ultraviolet rays, and efficacy components of medicine can be appropriately used as the conventional materials.

[0251] Cyclotetrasaccharide and the saccharide compositions comprising the same can be used intact as sweeteners. If necessary, they can be advantageously used in combination with other sweeteners, for example, powdery syrup, glucose, fructose, isomerized sugar, sucrosd, maltose, αa,α-trehalose, α,β-trehalose, β,β-trehalose, honey, maple sugar, erythritol, xylitol, sorbitol, maltitol, deihydrochalcone, stevioside, α-glycosyl stevioside, sweetener of Momordica grosvenori, glycyrrhizin, thaumatin, L-aspartyl L-phenylalanine methyl ester, saccharine, acesulfame K, sucralose, glycine and alanine; and fillers such as dextrin, starch, and lactose. Particularly, cyclotetrasaccharide and the saccharide compositions comprising the same can be suitably used as a low caloric sweetener, dietary sweetener, or the like in combination with one or more low-caloric sweeteners such as erythritol, xylitol, and maltitol; and/or one or more sweeteners with a relatively-high sweetening power such as α-glycosyl stevioside, thaumatin, L-aspartyl L-phenylalanine methyl ester, saccharine, acesulfame K, and sucralose.

[0252] Powdery and/or crystalline products of cyclotetrasaccharide and the saccharide compositions comprising the same can be arbitrarily used intact or, if necessary, after mixing with fillers, excipients, binders, etc., and them formed into products with different shapes such as granules, spheres, sticks, plates, cubes, and tablets.

[0253] Cyclotetrasaccharide and the saccharide compositions comprising the same well harmonize with other tastable materials having sour-, salty-, bitter-, astringent-, delicious, and bitter-taste; and have a high acid- and heat-tolerance. Thus, they can be favorably used as sweeteners, taste-improving agent, flavor-improving agent, quality-improving agent, etc., to sweeten and/or improve the taste, flavor, and quality of food products in general, for example, a soy sauce, powdered soy sauce, miso, “funmatsu-miso” (a powdered miso), “moromi” (a refined sake), “hishlo”(a refined soy sauce), “furikake” (a seasoned fish meal), mayonnaise, dressing, vinegar, “sanbai-zu” (a sauce of sugar, soy sauce and vinegar), “funmatsu-sushi-zu” (powdered vinegar for sushi), “chuka-no-moto” (an instant mix for Chinese dish), “tentsuyu” (a sauce for Japanese deep fat fried food), “mentsuyu” (a sauce for Japanese vermicelli), sauce, catsup, “yakiniku-no-tare” (a sauce for Japanese grilled meat), curry roux, instant stew mix, instant soup mix, “dashi-no-moto” (an instant stock mix), mixed seasoning, “mirin” (a sweet sake), “shin-mirin” (a synthetic mirin), table sugar, and coffee sugar. Also, cyclotetrasaccharide and the saccharide compositions comprising the same can be arbitrarily used to sweeten and improve the taste, flavor, and quality of “wagashi” (Japanese cakes) such as “senbei” (a rice cracker), “arare” (a rice cake cube), “okoshi” (a millet and rice cake), “gyuhi” (a starch paste), “mochi” (a rise paste) and the like, “manju” (a bun with a bean-jam), “uiro” (a sweet rice jelly), “an” (a bean-jam) and the like, “yokan” (a sweet jelly of beans), “mizu-yokan” (a soft azuki-bean jelly), “kingyoku” (a kind of yokan), jelly, pao de Castella, and “amedama” (a Japanese toffee); Western confectioneries such as a bun, biscuit, cracker, cookie, pie, pudding, butter cream, custard cream, cream puff, waffle, sponge cake, doughnut, chocolate, chewing gum, caramel, nougat, and candy; frozen desserts such as an ice cream and sherbet; syrups such as a “kajitsu-no-syrup-zuke” (a preserved fruit) and “korimitsu” (a sugar syrup for shaved ice); pastes such as a flour paste, peanut paste, and fruit paste; processed fruits and vegetables such as a jam, marmalade, “syrup-zuke” (fruit pickles), and “toka” (conserves); pickles and pickled products such as a “fukujin-zuke” (red colored radish pickles), “bettara-zuke” (a kind of whole fresh radish pickles), “senmai-zuke” (a kind of sliced fresh radish pickles), and “rakkyo-zuke” (pickled shallots); premix for pickles and pickled products such as a “takuan-zuke-no-moto” (a premix for pickled radish), and “hakusai-zuke-no-moto” (a premix for fresh white rape pickles); meat products such as a ham and sausage; products of fish meat such as a fish ham, fish sausage, “kamaboko” (a steamed fish paste), “chikuwa” (a kind of fish paste), and “tenpura” (a Japanease deep-fat fried fish paste); “chinmi” (relish) such as a “uni-no-shiokara” (salted guts of urchin), “ika-no-shiokara” (salted guts of squid), “su-konbu” (processed tangle), “saki-surume” (dried squid strips), “fugu-no-mirin-boshi” (a dried mirin-seasoned swellfish), seasoned fish flour such as of Pacific cod, sea bream, shrimp, etc.; “tsukudani” (foods boiled down in soy sauce) such as those of laver, edible wild plants, dried squid, small fish, and shellfish; daily dishes such as a “nimame” (cooked beans), potato salad, and “konbu-maki” (a tangle roll); milk products; canned and bottled products such as those of meat, fish meat, fruit, and vegetable; alcoholic beverages such as a synthetic sake, fermented liquor, fruit liquor, and sake; soft drinks such as a coffee, cocoa, juice, carbonated beverage, sour milk beverage, and beverage containing a lactic acid bacterium; instant food products such as instant pudding mix, instant hot cake mix, instant juice, instant coffee, “sokuseki-shiruko” (an instant mix of azuki-bean soup with rice cake), and instant soup mix; and other foods and beverages such as solid foods for babies, foods for therapy, drinks, beverage containing amino acids, peptide foods, and frozen foods.

[0254] Cyclotetrasaccharide and the saccharide compositions comprising the same can be arbitrarily used to improve the taste preference or to reduce the calorie of feeds and pet foods for animals and pets such as domestic animals, poultry, honey bees, silk warms, and fishes; and also they can be arbitrarily used as a sweetener and taste-improving agent, taste-curing agent, quality-improving agent, and stabilizer in other products in a paste or liquid form such as tobacco, cigarette, tooth paste, lipstick, rouge, lip cream, internal liquid medicine, tablet, troche, cod-liver oil in the form of drop, oral refrigerant, cachou, gargle, cosmetic and pharmaceutical. When used as a quality-improving agent or stabilizer, cyclotetrasaccharide and the saccharide compositions comprising the same can be arbitrarily used in biologically active substances susceptible to lose their effective ingredients and activities, as well as in health foods, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals containing the biologically active substances. Example of such biologically active substances are liquid preparations containing cytokines such as α-, β-, and γ-interferons, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), tumor necrosis factor-β (TNF-β), macropharge migration inhibitory factor, colony-stimulating factor, transfer factor, and interleukin 2; liquid preparations containing hormones such as insulin, growth hormone, prolactin, erythropoietin, and follicle-stimulating hormone; biological preparations such as BCG vaccine, Japanese encephalitis vaccine, measles vaccine, live polio vaccine, small pox vaccine, tetanus toxoid, Trimeresurus antitoxin, and human immunoglobulin; antibiotics such as penicillin, erythromycin, chloramphenicol, tetracycline, streptmycin, and kanamycin sulfate; vitamins such as thiamin, ribofravin, L-ascorbic acid, cod liver oil, carotenoide, ergosterol, tocopherol; solution of enzymes such as lipase, esterase, urokinase, protease, β-amylase, isoamylase, glucanase, and lactase; extracts such as ginseng extract, turtle extract, chlorella extract, aloe extract, bamboo-leaf extract, peach-leaf extract, loquat-leaf extract, citron-peel extract, and propolis extract; biologically active substances such as living microorganisms paste of virus, lactic acid bacteria, and yeast, and royal jelly. By using cyclotetrasaccharide and the saccharide compositions comprising the same, the above biologically active substances can be arbitrary prepared in health foods, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals in a liquid, paste, or solid form, which have a satisfactorily-high stability and quality with less fear of losing or inactivating their effective ingredients and activities.

[0255] The methods for incorporating cyclotetrasaccharide or the saccharide composition comprising the same into the aforesaid compositions are those which can incorporate cyclotetrasaccharide and the saccharide compositions into a variety of compositions before completion of their processing, and which can be appropriately selected from the following conventional methods; mixting, kneading, dissolving, melting, soaking, penetrating, dispersing, applying, coating, spraying, injecting, crystallizing, and solidifying. In order to exercise the various characteristics of cyclotetrasaccharide, particularly, inclusion ability, taste-improving ability, and flavor-improving ability, the amount of cyclotetrasaccharide or the saccharide compositions comprising the same to be preferably incorporated into the final compositions is usually in an amount of 0.1% or more, desirably, 1% or more.

[0256] The following examples explain in detail the production processes for the polypeptide of the present invention, cyclotetrasaccharide obtainable thereby, and saccharides comprising the same:

EXAMPLE 1

[0257] Production of a Polypeptide

[0258] A liquid medium containing 5 g/L of “PINE-DEX #4”, a partial starch hydrolyzate, 20 g/L of polypeptone, 20 g/L of yeast extract, 1 g/L of sodium phosphate, and water was placed in a 500-ml Erlenmeyer flask in an amount of 100 ml, sterilized at 121° C. for 15 min, and cooled. Then, the liquid medium was sterilely set to pH 7.0, and admixed with ampicillin sodium salt to give a final concentration of 100 μg/ml. A transformant, BGC1, obtained by the method in Experiment 5-2, was inoculated into the above liquid medium, and cultured at 27° C. and at 230 rpm for 24 hours to obtain the seed culture. Subsequently, about 18 L of a fresh preparation of the same liquid culture medium as used above seed culture was placed in a 30-L fermentor, sterilized with the same manner, cooled to 27° C., and then admixed with ampicillin to give a concentration of 50 μg/ml, and inoculated with 1%(v/v) of the seed culture, followed by culturing at 27° C. for 48 hours under aeration-agitation conditions. After disrupting cells in the culture by ultrasonication and removing the cell-debris by centrifugation, the activity of the polypeptide of the present invention in the resulting supernatant was assayed. The supernatant had about 3,100 units/L of α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme activity. About 74 ml of enzyme solution containing about 135 units/ml of the polypeptide of the present invention, having α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme activity, whose specific activity is about 30 units/mg-protein, was obtained by purifying the supernatant according to the method described in Experiment 1.

EXAMPLE 2

[0259] Production of a Polypeptide

[0260] According to the method described in Example 1, BGN1, a transformant obtained in Experiment 6-2, was seed-cultured, and then main-cultured using a 30-L fermentor. After disrupting cells in the culture by ultrasonication and removing the cell-debris by centrifugation, the activity of the polypeptide of the present invention in the resulting supernatant was assayed. The supernatant had about 3,000 units/L of α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme activity. About 150 ml of enzyme solution containing about 72 units/ml of the polypeptide of the present invention, having α-isomaltosyl-transferring enzyme activity, whose specific activity is about 30 units/mg-protein, was obtained by purifying the supernatant according to the method described in Experiment 3.

EXAMPLE 3

[0261] Production of a Powdery Product Containing Cyclotetrasaccharide

[0262] To an aqueous solution containing 10% panose, commercialized by Hayashibara Biochemical Laboratories Inc., set at pH 6.0 and 35° C., enzyme polypeptide obtained by the method described in Example 1 was added to give a concentration 2 units/g-panose and incubated for 36 hours. The reaction mixture was heated to 95° C. and kept for 10 minute, and then cooled and filtered to obtain a filtrate. According to the conventional manner, the resulting filtrate was decolored with activated charcoal, desalted and purified with ion exchangers in H— and OH— -forms, and then concentrated and dried into a powdery products containing cyclotetrasaccharide in a yield of about 91%, d.s.b.

[0263] Since the product contains, on a dry solid basis, 34.0% glucose, 2.1% isomaltose, 2.3% panose, 45.0% cyclotetrasaccharide, 4.8% isomaltosylpanose, 1.8% isomaltosylpanoside, and 10.0% of other saccharides and has a mild sweetness, an adequate viscosity, moisture-retaining ability, and inclusion ability, it can be advantageously used in a variety of compositions such as food products, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals as a sweetener, taste-improving agent, quality-improving agent, syneresis-preventing agent, stabilizer, excipient, inclusion agent, and base of pulverization.

EXAMPLE 4

[0264] Production of a Syrupy Composition Containing Cyclotetrasaccharide

[0265] “SUNMALT®”, a powdery maltose commercialized by Hayashibara Co., Ltd., was dissolved into water to give a concentration of 30% and admixed with 0.08%, d.s.b., of “TRANSGLUCOSIDASE L AMANO™”, an α-glucosidase commercialized by Amano Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., and then set to pH 5.5, followed by the enzymatic reaction at 55° C. for 18 hours. After stopping the reaction by heating, the reaction mixture was set to pH 6.0 and 35° C., and admixed 2 units/g-dry solid basis of enzyme polypeptide obtained in Example 1, and then incubated for 36 hours. The reaction mixture was heated to 95° C. and kept for 10 minute, and then cooled and filtered to obtain a filtrate. According to the conventional manner, the resulting filtrate was decolored with activated charcoal, desalted and purified with ion exchangers in H— and OH— forms, and then concentrated into a 70% syrup in a yield of about 92%, d.s.b.

[0266] Since the product contains, on a dry solid basis, 32.5% glucose, 15.7% maltose, 9.8% isomaltose, 4.0% maltotriose, 0.3% panose, 1.6% isomaltotriose, 17.5% cyclotetrasaccharide, 1.2% isomaltosylpanose, 0.7% isomaltosylpanoside, and 16.7% of other saccharides and has a mild sweetness, an adequate viscosity, moisture-retaining ability, and inclusion ability, it can be advantageously used in a variety of compositions such as food products, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals as a sweetener, taste-improving agent, quality-improving. agent, syneresis-preventing agent, stabilizer, excipient, inclusion agent, and base of pulverization.

EXAMPLE 5

[0267] Production of a Crystalline Powder of Cyclotetrasaccharide

[0268] A potato starch was prepared into a 15% starch suspension, admixed with calcium carbonate to give a final concentration of 0.1%, adjusted to pH 6.0, and admixed with 0.2%/g-starch of “THERMAMYL 60 L”, an α-amylase commercialized by Novo Industries A/S, Copenhagen, Denmark, and then heated at 95° C. for 15 min. After autoclaving at 2 kg/cm2 for 30 min, the reaction mixture was cooled to 35° C., admixed with 7.5 units/g-starch of the polypeptide of the present invention, obtained in Example 1, 2 units/g-starch of α-isomaltosylglucosaccharide-forming enzyme obtained by the method in Experiment 1-3, and 10 units/g-starch of cyclomaltodextrin glucanotransferase commercialized by Hayashibara Biochemical Laboratories Inc., followed by the enzymatic reaction for 48 hours. After heating to 95° C. for 30 min, the reaction mixture was adjusted at 5%, pH 5.0, and 45° C., admixed with 1,500 units/g-starch of “TRANSGLUCOSIDASE L AMANO™”, an α-glucosidase and 75 units/g-starch of “GLUCOZYME”, a glucoamylase preparation commercialized by Nagase Biochemicals, Ltd, Kyoto, Japan, and then enzymatically reacted for 24 hours. The reaction mixture was heated to 95° C. and kept for 10 minute, and then cooled and filtered to obtain a filtrate. According to the conventional manner, the resulting filtrate was decolored with activated charcoal, desalted and purified with ion exchangers in H— and OH— forms, and then concentrated into a 60% syrup. The resulting syrup contained, on a dry solid basis, 27.5% glucose, 65.1% cyclotetrasaccharide, and 7.5% of other saccharides. The resulting saccharide solution was subjected to a column chromatography using “AMBERLITE CR-1310 (Na-form)”, a strong acid cation-exchanger resin commercialized by Japan Organo Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan. The resin was packed into four jacketed stainless steel columns having a diameter of 5.4 cm, which were then cascaded in series to give a total gel bed depth of 20 m. Under the conditions of keeping the inner column temperature at 60° C., the saccharide solution was fed to the columns in a volume of 5%(v/v) and fractionated by feeding to the columns hot water heated to 60° C. at an SV (space velocity) of 0.13 to obtain high cyclotetrasaccharide content fractions while monitoring the saccharide composition of eluate by HPLC, and then collected the high cyclotetrasaccharide content fractions. The high cyclotetrasaccharide content solution was obtained in a yield of about 21%, d.s.b. The solution contained about 98%, d.s.b. of cyclotetrasaccharide.

[0269] The solution was concentrated to give a concentration of about 70% and then placed in a crystallizer, admixed with about 2% crystalline cyclotetrasaccharide penta- or hexa-hydrate as seed crystal, and gradually cooled to obtain a massecuite with a crystallinity of about 45%. The massecuite was sprayed from a nozzle equipped on top of drying tower at high pressure of 150 kg/cm². Simultaneously, hot air heated to 85° C. was being brown down from the upper part of the drying tower, and the resulting crystal powder was collected on a transporting wire conveyor provided on the basement of the tower and gradually moved out of the tower while blowing thereunto a hot air heated to 45° C. The resulting crystalline powder was injected to an ageing tower and aged for 10 hours while a hot air was being blown to the contents to complete crystallization and drying to obtain a crystalline powder of cyclotetrasaccharide penta- or hexa-hydrate.

[0270] Since the product has a relatively low reducibility, does substantially neither cause the amino-carbonyl reaction nor exhibit higroscopicity, and has a satisfactory handleability, mild low sweetness, adequate viscosity, moisture-retaining ability, inclusion ability, and substantially non-digestibility, it can be advantageously used in a variety of compositions such as food products, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals as a sweetener, low calorie food, taste-improving agent, flavor-improving agent, quality-improving agent, syneresis-preventing agent, stabilizer, excipient, inclusion agent, and base of pulverization.

EXAMPLE 6

[0271] Production of a Crystalline Powder of Cyclotetrasaccharide

[0272] A corn starch was prepared into a 28% starch suspension, admixed with calcium carbonate to give a concentration of 0.1%, adjusted to pH 6.5, and admixed with 0. 3%/g-starch of “THERMAMYL 60 L”, an α-amylase commercialized by Novo Industries A/S, Copenhagen, Denmark, and then heated at 95° C. for 15 min. After autoclaving at 2 kg/cm² for 30 min, the reaction mixture was cooled to 50° C., admixed with 6 units/g-starch of the polypeptide of the present invention, obtained in Example 2, 1.8 units/g-starch of α-isomaltosylglucosaccharide-forming enzyme obtained by the method in Experiment 3-3, and one units/g-starch of cyclomaltodextrin glucanotransferase commercialized by Hayashibara Biochemical Laboratories Inc., followed by the enzymatic reaction for 72 hours. After heating to 95° C. for 30 min, the reaction mixture was adjusted to pH 5.0, and 50° C., admixed with 300 units/g-starch of “TRANSGLUCOSIDASE L AMANO™”, an α-glucosidase, reacted for 24 hours, and then admixed with 10 units/g-d.s.b., of “GLUCOZYME”, a glucoamylase preparation commercialized by Nagase Biochemicals, Ltd, Kyoto, Japan, and 20 units/g-d.s.b., of “NEO-SPITASE PK2”, an α-amylase preparation, and then reacted for 17 hours. The reaction mixture was heated to 95° C. and kept for 30 minute, and then cooled and filtered to obtain a filtrate. According to the conventional manner, the resulting filtrate was decolored with activated charcoal, desalted and purified with ion exchangers in H— and OH— forms, and then concentrated into a 60% syrup. The resulting syrup contained, on a dry solid basis, 35.1% glucose, 51.1% cyclotetrasaccharide, and 13.8% of other saccharides. The resulting saccharide solution was fractionated by a column chromatography using a strong acid cation-exchanger resin described in Example 5, and then collected the high cyclotetrasaccharide content fractions in a yield of about 39%, d.s.b. The solution contained about 80%, d.s.b., of cyclotetrasaccharide.

[0273] The solution was continuously crystallized while concentrating. The resulting massecuite was separated by a basket-type centrifuge to obtain crystals which were then sprayed with a small amount of water to obtain a high purity cyclotetrasaccharide, penta- or hexa-hydrate, in a yield of about 23%, d.s.b.

[0274] Since the product has a relatively low reducibility, does substantially neither cause the amino-carbonyl reaction nor exhibit higroscopicity, and has a satisfactory handleability, mild low sweetness, adequate viscosity, moisture-retaining ability, inclusion ability, and substantially non-digestibility, it can be advantageously used in a variety of compositions such as food products, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals as a sweetener, low calorie food, taste-improving agent, flavor-improving agent, quality-improving agent, syneresis-preventing agent, stabilizer, excipient, inclusion agent, and base of pulverization.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

[0275] As described above, the present invention is an invention providing a novel polypeptide which have α-isomaltosyl transferring activity, and its process and uses. The polypeptide of the present invention can be stably provided in large amount and at a relatively low cost by recombinant DNA techniques. Therefore, According to the present invention, a cyclotetrasaccharide having a structure of cyclo{→6)-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→3)-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→6)-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→3)-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→}, saccharide mixture comprising the same, and a variety of compositions comprising the same can be stably produced in an industrial scale and at a relatively low cost. Sincethecyclotetrasacchridehasarelativelylow reducibility, does substantially neither cause the amino-carbonyl reaction nor exhibit higroscopicity, and has a satisfactory handleability, mild low sweetness, adequate viscosity, moisture-retaining ability, inclusion ability, and substantially non-digestibility, it can be advantageously used in a variety of compositions such as food products, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals as a sweetener, low calorie food, taste-improving agent, flavor-improving agent, quality-improving agent, syneresis-preventing agent, stabilizer, excipient, inclusion agent, and base of pulverization.

[0276] The present invention, having these outstanding functions and effects, is a significantly important invention that greatly contributes to this art.

1 19 1 1064 PRT Bacillus globisporus 1 Ile Asp Gly Val Tyr His Ala Pro Tyr Gly Ile Asp Asp Leu Tyr Glu 1 5 10 15 Ile Gln Ala Thr Glu Arg Ser Pro Arg Asp Pro Val Ala Gly Asp Thr 20 25 30 Val Tyr Ile Lys Ile Thr Thr Trp Pro Ile Glu Ser Gly Gln Thr Ala 35 40 45 Trp Val Thr Trp Thr Lys Asn Gly Val Asn Gln Ala Ala Val Gly Ala 50 55 60 Ala Phe Lys Tyr Asn Ser Gly Asn Asn Thr Tyr Trp Glu Ala Asn Leu 65 70 75 80 Gly Thr Phe Ala Lys Gly Asp Val Ile Ser Tyr Thr Val His Gly Asn 85 90 95 Lys Asp Gly Ala Asn Glu Lys Val Ile Gly Pro Phe Thr Phe Thr Val 100 105 110 Thr Gly Trp Glu Ser Val Ser Ser Ile Ser Ser Ile Thr Asp Asn Thr 115 120 125 Asn Arg Val Val Leu Asn Ala Val Pro Asn Thr Gly Thr Leu Lys Pro 130 135 140 Lys Ile Asn Leu Ser Phe Thr Ala Asp Asp Val Leu Arg Val Gln Val 145 150 155 160 Ser Pro Thr Gly Thr Gly Thr Leu Ser Ser Gly Leu Ser Asn Tyr Thr 165 170 175 Val Ser Asp Thr Ala Ser Thr Thr Trp Leu Thr Thr Ser Lys Leu Lys 180 185 190 Val Lys Val Asp Lys Asn Pro Phe Lys Leu Ser Val Tyr Lys Pro Asp 195 200 205 Gly Thr Thr Leu Ile Ala Arg Gln Tyr Asp Ser Thr Thr Asn Arg Asn 210 215 220 Ile Ala Trp Leu Thr Asn Gly Ser Thr Ile Ile Asp Lys Val Glu Asp 225 230 235 240 His Phe Tyr Ser Pro Ala Ser Glu Glu Phe Phe Gly Phe Gly Glu His 245 250 255 Tyr Asn Asn Phe Arg Lys Arg Gly Asn Asp Val Asp Thr Tyr Val Phe 260 265 270 Asn Gln Tyr Lys Asn Gln Asn Asp Arg Thr Tyr Met Ala Ile Pro Phe 275 280 285 Met Leu Asn Ser Ser Gly Tyr Gly Ile Phe Val Asn Ser Thr Tyr Tyr 290 295 300 Ser Lys Phe Arg Leu Ala Thr Glu Arg Thr Asp Met Phe Ser Phe Thr 305 310 315 320 Ala Asp Thr Gly Gly Ser Ala Ala Ser Met Leu Asp Tyr Tyr Phe Ile 325 330 335 Tyr Gly Asn Asp Leu Lys Asn Val Val Ser Asn Tyr Ala Asn Ile Thr 340 345 350 Gly Lys Pro Thr Ala Leu Pro Lys Trp Ala Phe Gly Leu Trp Met Ser 355 360 365 Ala Asn Glu Trp Asp Arg Gln Thr Lys Val Asn Thr Ala Ile Asn Asn 370 375 380 Ala Asn Ser Asn Asn Ile Pro Ala Thr Ala Val Val Leu Glu Gln Trp 385 390 395 400 Ser Asp Glu Asn Thr Phe Tyr Ile Phe Asn Asp Ala Thr Tyr Thr Pro 405 410 415 Lys Thr Gly Ser Ala Ala His Ala Tyr Thr Asp Phe Thr Phe Pro Thr 420 425 430 Ser Gly Arg Trp Thr Asp Pro Lys Ala Met Ala Asp Asn Val His Asn 435 440 445 Asn Gly Met Lys Leu Val Leu Trp Gln Val Pro Ile Gln Lys Trp Thr 450 455 460 Ser Thr Pro Tyr Thr Gln Lys Asp Asn Asp Glu Ala Tyr Met Thr Ala 465 470 475 480 Gln Asn Tyr Ala Val Gly Asn Gly Ser Gly Gly Gln Tyr Arg Ile Pro 485 490 495 Ser Gly Gln Trp Phe Glu Asn Ser Leu Leu Leu Asp Phe Thr Asn Thr 500 505 510 Ala Ala Lys Asn Trp Trp Met Ser Lys Arg Ala Tyr Leu Phe Asp Gly 515 520 525 Val Gly Ile Asp Gly Phe Lys Thr Asp Gly Gly Glu Met Val Trp Gly 530 535 540 Arg Ser Asn Thr Phe Ser Asn Gly Lys Lys Gly Asn Glu Met Arg Asn 545 550 555 560 Gln Tyr Pro Asn Glu Tyr Val Lys Ala Tyr Asn Glu Tyr Ala Arg Ser 565 570 575 Lys Lys Ala Asp Ala Val Ser Phe Ser Arg Ser Gly Thr Gln Gly Ala 580 585 590 Gln Ala Asn Gln Ile Phe Trp Ser Gly Asp Gln Glu Ser Thr Phe Gly 595 600 605 Ala Phe Gln Gln Ala Val Asn Ala Gly Leu Thr Ala Ser Met Ser Gly 610 615 620 Val Pro Tyr Trp Ser Trp Asp Met Ala Gly Phe Thr Gly Thr Tyr Pro 625 630 635 640 Thr Ala Glu Leu Tyr Lys Arg Ala Thr Glu Met Ala Ala Phe Ala Pro 645 650 655 Val Met Gln Phe His Ser Glu Ser Asn Gly Ser Ser Gly Ile Asn Glu 660 665 670 Glu Arg Ser Pro Trp Asn Ala Gln Ala Arg Thr Gly Asp Asn Thr Ile 675 680 685 Ile Ser His Phe Ala Lys Tyr Thr Asn Thr Arg Met Asn Leu Leu Pro 690 695 700 Tyr Ile Tyr Ser Glu Ala Lys Met Ala Ser Asp Thr Gly Val Pro Met 705 710 715 720 Met Arg Ala Met Ala Leu Glu Tyr Pro Lys Asp Thr Asn Thr Tyr Gly 725 730 735 Leu Thr Gln Gln Tyr Met Phe Gly Gly Asn Leu Leu Ile Ala Pro Val 740 745 750 Met Asn Gln Gly Glu Thr Asn Lys Ser Ile Tyr Leu Pro Gln Gly Asp 755 760 765 Trp Ile Asp Phe Trp Phe Gly Ala Gln Arg Pro Gly Gly Arg Thr Ile 770 775 780 Ser Tyr Thr Ala Gly Ile Asp Asp Leu Pro Val Phe Val Lys Phe Gly 785 790 795 800 Ser Ile Leu Pro Met Asn Leu Asn Ala Gln Tyr Gln Val Gly Gly Thr 805 810 815 Ile Gly Asn Ser Leu Thr Ser Tyr Thr Asn Leu Ala Phe Arg Ile Tyr 820 825 830 Pro Leu Gly Thr Thr Thr Tyr Asp Trp Asn Asp Asp Ile Gly Gly Ser 835 840 845 Val Lys Thr Ile Thr Ser Thr Glu Gln Tyr Gly Leu Asn Lys Glu Thr 850 855 860 Val Thr Val Pro Ala Ile Asn Ser Thr Lys Thr Leu Gln Val Phe Thr 865 870 875 880 Thr Lys Pro Ser Ser Val Thr Val Gly Gly Ser Val Met Thr Glu Tyr 885 890 895 Ser Thr Leu Thr Ala Leu Thr Gly Ala Ser Thr Gly Trp Tyr Tyr Asp 900 905 910 Thr Val Gln Lys Phe Thr Tyr Val Lys Leu Gly Ser Ser Ala Ser Ala 915 920 925 Gln Ser Val Val Leu Asn Gly Val Asn Lys Val Glu Tyr Glu Ala Glu 930 935 940 Phe Gly Val Gln Ser Gly Val Ser Thr Asn Thr Asn His Ala Gly Tyr 945 950 955 960 Thr Gly Thr Gly Phe Val Asp Gly Phe Glu Thr Leu Gly Asp Asn Val 965 970 975 Ala Phe Asp Val Ser Val Lys Ala Ala Gly Thr Tyr Thr Met Lys Val 980 985 990 Arg Tyr Ser Ser Gly Ala Gly Asn Gly Ser Arg Ala Ile Tyr Val Asn 995 1000 1005 Asn Thr Lys Val Thr Asp Leu Ala Leu Pro Gln Thr Thr Ser Trp 1010 1015 1020 Asp Thr Trp Gly Thr Ala Thr Phe Ser Val Ser Leu Ser Thr Gly 1025 1030 1035 Leu Asn Thr Val Lys Val Ser Tyr Asp Gly Thr Ser Ser Leu Gly 1040 1045 1050 Ile Asn Phe Asp Asn Ile Ala Ile Val Glu Gln 1055 1060 2 1064 PRT Bacillus globisporus 2 Ile Asp Gly Val Tyr His Ala Pro Tyr Gly Ile Asp Asp Leu Tyr Glu 1 5 10 15 Ile Gln Ala Thr Glu Arg Ser Pro Arg Asp Pro Val Ala Gly Glu Thr 20 25 30 Val Tyr Ile Lys Ile Thr Thr Trp Pro Ile Glu Pro Gly Gln Thr Ala 35 40 45 Trp Val Thr Trp Thr Lys Asn Gly Val Ala Gln Pro Ala Val Gly Ala 50 55 60 Ala Tyr Lys Tyr Asn Ser Gly Asn Asn Thr Tyr Trp Glu Ala Asn Leu 65 70 75 80 Gly Ser Phe Ala Lys Gly Asp Val Ile Ser Tyr Thr Val Arg Gly Asn 85 90 95 Lys Asp Gly Ala Asn Glu Lys Thr Ala Gly Pro Phe Thr Phe Thr Val 100 105 110 Thr Asp Trp Glu Tyr Val Ser Ser Ile Gly Ser Val Thr Asn Asn Thr 115 120 125 Asn Arg Val Leu Leu Asn Ala Val Pro Asn Thr Gly Thr Leu Ser Pro 130 135 140 Lys Ile Asn Ile Ser Phe Thr Ala Asp Asp Val Phe Arg Val Gln Leu 145 150 155 160 Ser Pro Thr Gly Ser Gly Thr Leu Ser Thr Gly Leu Ser Asn Phe Thr 165 170 175 Val Thr Asp Ser Ala Ser Thr Ala Trp Ile Ser Thr Ser Lys Leu Lys 180 185 190 Leu Lys Val Asp Lys Asn Pro Phe Lys Leu Ser Val Tyr Lys Pro Asp 195 200 205 Gly Thr Thr Leu Ile Ala Arg Gln Tyr Asp Ser Thr Ala Asn Arg Asn 210 215 220 Leu Ala Trp Leu Thr Asn Gly Ser Thr Val Ile Asn Lys Ile Glu Asp 225 230 235 240 His Phe Tyr Ser Pro Ala Ser Glu Glu Phe Phe Gly Phe Gly Glu Arg 245 250 255 Tyr Asn Asn Phe Arg Lys Arg Gly Thr Asp Val Asp Thr Tyr Val Tyr 260 265 270 Asn Gln Tyr Lys Asn Gln Asn Asp Arg Thr Tyr Met Ala Ile Pro Phe 275 280 285 Met Leu Asn Ser Ser Gly Tyr Gly Ile Phe Val Asn Ser Thr Tyr Tyr 290 295 300 Ser Lys Phe Arg Leu Ala Thr Glu Arg Ser Asp Met Tyr Ser Phe Thr 305 310 315 320 Ala Asp Thr Gly Gly Ser Ala Asn Ser Thr Leu Asp Tyr Tyr Phe Ile 325 330 335 Tyr Gly Asn Asp Leu Lys Gly Val Val Ser Asn Tyr Ala Asn Ile Thr 340 345 350 Gly Lys Pro Ala Ala Leu Pro Lys Trp Ala Phe Gly Leu Trp Met Ser 355 360 365 Ala Asn Glu Trp Asp Arg Gln Ser Lys Val Ala Thr Ala Ile Asn Asn 370 375 380 Ala Asn Thr Asn Asn Ile Pro Ala Thr Ala Val Val Leu Glu Gln Trp 385 390 395 400 Ser Asp Glu Asn Thr Phe Tyr Met Phe Asn Asp Ala Gln Tyr Thr Ala 405 410 415 Lys Pro Gly Gly Ser Thr His Ser Tyr Thr Asp Tyr Ile Phe Pro Ala 420 425 430 Ala Gly Arg Trp Pro Asn Pro Lys Gln Met Ala Asp Asn Val His Ser 435 440 445 Asn Gly Met Lys Leu Val Leu Trp Gln Val Pro Ile Gln Lys Trp Thr 450 455 460 Ala Ala Pro His Leu Gln Lys Asp Asn Asp Glu Ser Tyr Met Ile Ala 465 470 475 480 Gln Asn Tyr Ala Val Gly Asn Gly Ser Gly Gly Gln Tyr Arg Ile Pro 485 490 495 Ser Gly Gln Trp Phe Glu Asn Ser Leu Leu Leu Asp Phe Thr Asn Pro 500 505 510 Ser Ala Lys Asn Trp Trp Met Ser Lys Arg Ala Tyr Leu Phe Asp Gly 515 520 525 Val Gly Ile Asp Gly Phe Lys Thr Asp Gly Gly Glu Met Val Trp Gly 530 535 540 Arg Trp Asn Thr Phe Ala Asn Gly Lys Lys Gly Asp Glu Met Arg Asn 545 550 555 560 Gln Tyr Pro Asn Asp Tyr Val Lys Ala Tyr Asn Glu Tyr Ala Arg Ser 565 570 575 Lys Lys Ser Asp Ala Val Ser Phe Ser Arg Ser Gly Thr Gln Gly Ala 580 585 590 Gln Ala Asn Gln Ile Phe Trp Ser Gly Asp Gln Glu Ser Thr Phe Gly 595 600 605 Ala Phe Gln Gln Ala Val Gln Ala Gly Leu Thr Ala Gly Leu Ser Gly 610 615 620 Val Pro Tyr Trp Ser Trp Asp Leu Ala Gly Phe Thr Gly Ala Tyr Pro 625 630 635 640 Ser Ala Glu Leu Tyr Lys Arg Ala Thr Ala Met Ser Ala Phe Ala Pro 645 650 655 Ile Met Gln Phe His Ser Glu Ala Asn Gly Ser Ser Gly Ile Asn Glu 660 665 670 Glu Arg Ser Pro Trp Asn Ala Gln Ala Arg Thr Gly Asp Asn Thr Ile 675 680 685 Ile Ser His Phe Ala Lys Tyr Thr Asn Thr Arg Met Asn Leu Leu Pro 690 695 700 Tyr Ile Tyr Ser Glu Ala Lys Ala Ala Ser Asp Thr Gly Val Pro Met 705 710 715 720 Met Arg Ala Met Ala Leu Glu Tyr Pro Ser Asp Thr Gln Thr Tyr Gly 725 730 735 Leu Thr Gln Gln Tyr Met Phe Gly Gly Ser Leu Leu Val Ala Pro Val 740 745 750 Leu Asn Gln Gly Glu Thr Asn Lys Asn Ile Tyr Leu Pro Gln Gly Asp 755 760 765 Trp Ile Asp Phe Trp Phe Gly Ala Gln Arg Pro Gly Gly Arg Thr Ile 770 775 780 Ser Tyr Tyr Ala Gly Val Asp Asp Leu Pro Val Phe Val Lys Ser Gly 785 790 795 800 Ser Ile Leu Pro Met Asn Leu Asn Gly Gln Tyr Gln Val Gly Gly Thr 805 810 815 Ile Gly Asn Ser Leu Thr Ala Tyr Asn Asn Leu Thr Phe Arg Ile Tyr 820 825 830 Pro Leu Gly Thr Thr Thr Tyr Ser Trp Asn Asp Asp Ile Gly Gly Ser 835 840 845 Val Lys Thr Ile Thr Ser Thr Glu Gln Tyr Gly Leu Asn Lys Glu Thr 850 855 860 Val Thr Leu Pro Ala Ile Asn Ser Ala Lys Thr Leu Gln Val Phe Thr 865 870 875 880 Thr Lys Pro Ser Ser Val Thr Leu Gly Gly Thr Ala Leu Thr Ala His 885 890 895 Ser Thr Leu Ser Ala Leu Ile Gly Ala Ser Ser Gly Trp Tyr Tyr Asp 900 905 910 Thr Val Gln Lys Leu Ala Tyr Val Lys Leu Gly Ala Ser Ser Ser Ala 915 920 925 Gln Thr Val Val Leu Asp Gly Val Asn Lys Val Glu Tyr Glu Ala Glu 930 935 940 Phe Gly Thr Leu Thr Gly Val Thr Thr Asn Thr Asn His Ala Gly Tyr 945 950 955 960 Met Gly Thr Gly Phe Val Asp Gly Phe Asp Ala Ala Gly Asp Ala Val 965 970 975 Thr Phe Asp Val Ser Val Lys Ala Ala Gly Thr Tyr Ala Leu Lys Val 980 985 990 Arg Tyr Ala Ser Ala Gly Gly Asn Ala Ser Arg Ala Ile Tyr Val Asn 995 1000 1005 Asn Ala Lys Val Thr Asp Leu Ala Leu Pro Ala Thr Ala Asn Trp Asp 1010 1015 1020 Thr Trp Gly Thr Ala Thr Val Asn Val Ala Leu Asn Ala Gly Tyr Asn 1025 1030 1035 1040 Ser Ile Lys Val Ser Tyr Asp Asn Thr Asn Thr Leu Gly Ile Asn Leu 1045 1050 1055 Asp Asn Ile Ala Ile Val Glu His 1060 3 3192 DNA Bacillus globisporus 3 attgatggtg tttatcatgc gccatacgga atcgatgatc tgtacgagat tcaggcgacg 60 gagcggagtc caagagatcc cgttgcaggc gatactgtgt atatcaagat aacaacgtgg 120 cccattgaat caggacaaac ggcttgggtg acctggacga aaaacggtgt caatcaagct 180 gctgtcggag cagcattcaa atacaacagc ggcaacaaca cttactggga agcgaacctt 240 ggcacttttg caaaagggga cgtgatcagt tataccgttc atggcaacaa ggatggcgcg 300 aatgagaagg ttatcggtcc ttttactttt accgtaacgg gatgggaatc cgttagcagt 360 atcagctcta ttacggataa tacgaaccgt gttgtgctga atgcggtgcc gaatacaggc 420 acattgaagc caaagatcaa cctttccttt acggcggatg atgtcctccg cgtacaggtt 480 tctccaaccg gaacaggaac gttaagcagt ggacttagta attacacagt ttcagatacc 540 gcctcaacca cttggcttac aacttccaag ctgaaggtga aggtggataa gaatccattc 600 aaacttagtg tgtataagcc tgatggaacg acgttgattg cccgtcaata tgacagcact 660 acgaatcgta acattgcctg gttaaccaat ggcagtacaa tcatcgacaa ggtagaagat 720 catttttatt caccggcttc cgaggagttt tttggctttg gagagcatta caacaacttc 780 cgtaaacgcg gaaatgatgt ggacacctat gtgttcaacc agtataagaa tcaaaatgac 840 cgcacctaca tggcaattcc ttttatgctt aacagcagcg gttatggcat tttcgtaaat 900 tcaacgtatt attccaaatt tcggttggca accgaacgca ccgatatgtt cagctttacg 960 gctgatacag ggggtagtgc cgcctcgatg ctggattatt atttcattta cggtaatgat 1020 ttgaaaaatg tggtgagtaa ctacgctaac attaccggta agccaacagc gctgccgaaa 1080 tgggctttcg ggttatggat gtcagctaac gagtgggatc gtcaaaccaa ggtgaataca 1140 gccattaata acgcgaactc caataatatt ccggctacag cggttgtgct cgaacagtgg 1200 agtgatgaga acacgtttta tattttcaat gatgccacct ataccccgaa aacgggcagt 1260 gctgcgcatg cctataccga tttcactttc ccgacatctg ggagatggac ggatccaaaa 1320 gcgatggcag acaatgtgca taacaatggg atgaagctgg tgctttggca ggtccctatt 1380 cagaaatgga cttcaacgcc ctatacccag aaagataatg atgaagccta tatgacggct 1440 cagaattatg cagttggcaa cggtagcgga ggccagtaca ggataccttc aggacaatgg 1500 ttcgagaaca gtttgctgct tgattttacg aatacggccg ccaaaaactg gtggatgtct 1560 aaacgcgctt atctgtttga tggtgtgggt atcgacggct tcaaaacaga tggcggtgaa 1620 atggtatggg gtcgctcaaa tactttctca aacggtaaga aaggcaatga aatgcgcaat 1680 caatacccga atgagtatgt gaaagcctat aacgagtacg cgcgctcgaa gaaagccgat 1740 gcggtctcct ttagccgttc cggcacgcaa ggcgcacagg cgaatcagat tttctggtcc 1800 ggtgaccaag agtcgacgtt tggtgctttt caacaagctg tgaatgcagg gcttacggca 1860 agtatgtctg gcgttcctta ttggagctgg gatatggcag gctttacagg cacttatcca 1920 acggctgagt tgtacaaacg tgctactgaa atggctgctt ttgcaccggt catgcagttt 1980 cattccgagt ctaacggcag ctctggtatc aacgaggaac gttctccatg gaacgcacaa 2040 gcgcgtacag gcgacaatac gatcattagt cattttgcca aatatacgaa tacgcgcatg 2100 aatttgcttc cttatattta tagcgaagcg aagatggcta gtgatactgg cgttcccatg 2160 atgcgcgcca tggcgcttga atatccgaag gacacgaaca cgtacggttt gacacaacag 2220 tatatgttcg gaggtaattt acttattgct cctgttatga atcagggaga aacaaacaag 2280 agtatttatc ttccgcaggg ggattggatc gatttctggt tcggtgctca gcgtcctggc 2340 ggtcgaacaa tcagctacac ggccggcatc gatgatctac cggtttttgt gaagtttggc 2400 agtattcttc cgatgaattt gaacgcgcaa tatcaagtgg gcgggaccat tggcaacagc 2460 ttgacgagct acacgaatct cgcgttccgc atttatccgc ttgggacaac aacgtacgac 2520 tggaatgatg atattggcgg ttcggtgaaa accataactt ctacagagca atatgggttg 2580 aataaagaaa ccgtgactgt tccagcgatt aattctacca agacattgca agtgtttacg 2640 actaagcctt cctctgtaac ggtgggtggt tctgtgatga cagagtacag tactttaact 2700 gccctaacgg gagcgtcgac aggctggtac tatgatactg tacagaaatt cacttacgtc 2760 aagcttggtt caagtgcatc tgctcaatcc gttgtgctaa atggcgttaa taaggtggaa 2820 tatgaagcag aattcggcgt gcaaagcggc gtttcaacga acacgaacca tgcaggttat 2880 actggtacag gatttgtgga cggctttgag actcttggag acaatgttgc ttttgatgtt 2940 tccgtcaaag ccgcaggtac ttatacgatg aaggttcggt attcatccgg tgcaggcaat 3000 ggctcaagag ccatctatgt gaataacacc aaagtgacgg accttgcctt gccgcaaaca 3060 acaagctggg atacatgggg gactgctacg tttagcgtct cgctgagtac aggtctcaac 3120 acggtgaaag tcagctatga tggtaccagt tcacttggca ttaatttcga taacatcgcg 3180 attgtagagc aa 3192 4 3192 DNA Bacillus globisporus 4 attgacggcg tataccacgc gccttacggg atcgacgatc tttatgagat tcaggcgacg 60 gagcgcagtc cgagagaccc tgtggccggg gagacggtgt atatcaaaat cacaacatgg 120 ccgatcgagc ccggacagac ggcatgggtg acctggacga aaaacggcgt cgcccagccg 180 gcggtcggtg ccgcctacaa gtacaacagc ggcaacaaca cctactggga ggcgaacctg 240 ggcagcttcg ccaaaggaga cgtaatttcc tacaccgttc gcggcaataa ggacggtgcc 300 aatgaaaaaa cggccggacc gttcaccttt accgtaaccg actgggaata cgtcagcagc 360 atcggctcgg tcacgaataa cacgaaccgt gtcctgctga atgcggtgcc gaacacgggg 420 acgctgtccc ccaagatcaa catttcgttc acggcggacg atgtgttccg cgttcagctc 480 tcccctacgg gatcggggac gttgagcacg ggcctgagta attttaccgt cacggacagt 540 gcgtccacgg cctggatctc tacatccaaa ttaaagctga aggtggataa gaatccgttc 600 aaactgagcg tgtacaagcc ggacggcacg acgctgatcg cgcgccagta tgacagcacg 660 gccaaccgca atctcgcttg gctgaccaat ggcagcactg tcatcaataa aatcgaggac 720 cacttctact cgccggcgtc cgaggagttt ttcggcttcg gggagcgcta caacaacttc 780 cgcaagcgcg gaaccgacgt ggacacgtat gtctacaatc agtacaaaaa tcaaaacgac 840 cgcacctata tggcaatccc cttcatgctg aacagcagcg ggtacggtat cttcgtaaac 900 tccacgtact actccaaatt ccgcttggca actgagcgct ccgatatgta cagttttacg 960 gccgataccg ggggcagcgc caattcgacg ctggattact actttattta cggcaatgac 1020 ttgaagggcg tcgtcagcaa ttatgcgaac atcacaggca agccggctgc tctgcccaaa 1080 tgggcgtttg gcctctggat gtcggccaat gagtgggacc ggcaatccaa agtagcgact 1140 gcgatcaata acgccaatac gaacaacatc ccggcgacgg ccgtcgtgct ggagcagtgg 1200 agtgacgaga atacgttcta tatgttcaac gatgcgcagt atacggccaa acctggcggc 1260 agcacacact cctatacgga ctatatcttc ccggcggccg gccgttggcc gaatccgaag 1320 caaatggcgg ataatgtaca cagtaacggg atgaagctgg tgctgtggca ggtgccgatt 1380 cagaaatgga ccgccgctcc tcatctgcag aaggacaacg acgaaagcta tatgatcgcg 1440 caaaattatg ccgtaggcaa cggcagcgga ggccagtacc gcatccctag cgggcaatgg 1500 tttgagaaca gcctgctgct ggacttcacg aacccgagcg ccaaaaactg gtggatgtcc 1560 aagcgcgcct atctgtttga tggcgtcggc atcgacgggt tcaagacgga cggaggggag 1620 atggtctggg gccgctggaa cacgttcgcc aatggcaaaa aaggcgatga aatgcgcaac 1680 cagtacccga acgattacgt gaaggcctac aacgaatatg cgcgctcgaa gaaaagcgat 1740 gccgtcagct tcagccgttc gggcacgcaa ggggcgcaag cgaatcagat cttctggtcc 1800 ggtgaccagg aatcgacgtt cggtgccttc cagcaagccg tccaggcggg actgaccgca 1860 ggcttgtccg gcgttccgta ttggagctgg gacttggctg gattcaccgg cgcttatccg 1920 tcggccgagc tatataaacg cgcgacggca atgtcggcat ttgccccgat tatgcagttc 1980 cactccgaag ccaacggcag ttccggcatc aatgaggagc ggtccccgtg gaatgctcag 2040 gcccggactg gcgacaacac gatcatcagc cattttgcca agtatacgaa cacccggatg 2100 aacctgcttc cttatattta cagcgaggct aaagcagcaa gcgatactgg cgtgccgatg 2160 atgcgcgcga tggcgctgga gtatccgagc gatacccaga cgtacggatt gacgcagcag 2220 tacatgttcg gcggcagcct gctggtggcg cctgtcttga accaaggcga gacgaataag 2280 aatatctacc ttccgcaagg agattggatc gacttctggt tcggcgcgca gcgtccgggc 2340 gggcgaacga tcagctacta cgcgggcgtg gacgatcttc ccgtcttcgt gaagtccggc 2400 agcatcctgc cgatgaatct gaacgggcag tatcaggttg gcggcacgat cggcaacagc 2460 ttgaccgcct acaacaacct gacgttccgg atttatccac tgggtacgac gacgtacagc 2520 tggaatgatg acatcggcgg ctcggtgaag acgattacgt cgacagagca gtatggactg 2580 aataaagaga cggtgacgct tccggcgatc aactcggcga agacgctcca ggtgttcacg 2640 accaagccgt cgtcggtgac gctgggcggc acggccctca ccgcgcatag cacattaagc 2700 gcattgatcg gcgcttcctc cggctggtat tacgatacgg tgcaaaagct cgcctatgtg 2760 aagctcggcg ccagctcatc ggcgcaaacc gtcgtgcttg acggcgtcaa caaggtcgag 2820 tatgaggctg agttcggcac acttaccggc gtcacgacca atacgaatca tgccggctat 2880 atgggtaccg gctttgtcga cggcttcgat gcggcaggcg atgcagtgac cttcgacgta 2940 tccgtcaaag cggccggcac gtatgcgctc aaggtccggt acgcttccgc tggtggcaac 3000 gcttcacgcg ctatctatgt caacaacgcc aaggtgaccg atctggcgct tccggcaacg 3060 gccaactggg acacctgggg gacggcaacc gtcaacgtag ccttaaacgc cggctacaac 3120 tcgatcaagg tcagctacga caacaccaat acgctcggca ttaatctcga taacattgcg 3180 atcgtggagc at 3192 5 19 PRT Bacillus globisporus 5 Ile Asp Gly Val Tyr His Ala Pro Tyr Gly Ile Asp Asp Leu Tyr Glu 1 5 10 15 Ile Gln Ala 6 14 PRT Bacillus globisporus 6 Gly Asn Glu Met Arg Asn Gln Tyr Pro Asn Glu Tyr Val Lys 1 5 10 7 14 PRT Bacillus globisporus 7 Arg Gly Asn Asp Val Asp Thr Tyr Val Phe Asn Gln Tyr Lys 1 5 10 8 6 PRT Bacillus globisporus 8 Asn Trp Trp Met Ser Lys 1 5 9 12 PRT Bacillus globisporus 9 Ile Thr Thr Trp Pro Ile Glu Ser Gly Gln Thr Ala 1 5 10 10 11 PRT Bacillus globisporus 10 Trp Ala Phe Gly Leu Trp Met Ser Ala Asn Glu 1 5 10 11 18 PRT Bacillus globisporus 11 Thr Asp Gly Gly Glu Met Val Trp Gly Arg Trp Asn Thr Phe Ala Asn 1 5 10 15 Gly Lys 12 18 PRT Bacillus globisporus 12 Ile Thr Thr Trp Pro Ile Glu Pro Gly Gln Thr Ala Trp Val Thr Trp 1 5 10 15 Thr Lys 13 17 PRT Bacillus globisporus 13 Trp Ala Phe Gly Leu Trp Met Ser Ala Asn Glu Trp Asp Arg Glu Ser 1 5 10 15 Lys 14 20 PRT Bacillus globisporus 14 Asn Ile Tyr Leu Pro Gln Gly Asp Trp Ile Asp Phe Trp Phe Gly Ala 1 5 10 15 Gln Arg Pro Gly 15 3869 DNA Bacillus globisporus CDS (241)...(3522) 15 tcatcgctac tggcaatcgg attcaaacaa atggctgcag ctcgcacaga cgattgtgga 60 aagggaatat ctgatttaac catacggcgg tcgcgattga ttgaatagga ttcgtggccg 120 cctaatattg aaagggggga tgcgtggagc agcgcatgca cggcgaggaa taactgttgt 180 tggagcctct aagtcattca tgtttagcaa acaaatttcg gtacgaaagg ggaaatgttt 240 atg tat gta agg aat cta aca ggt tca ttc cga ttt tct ctc tct ttt 288 Met Tyr Val Arg Asn Leu Thr Gly Ser Phe Arg Phe Ser Leu Ser Phe 1 5 10 15 ttg ctc tgt ttc tgt ctc ttc gtc ccc tct att tat gcc att gat ggt 336 Leu Leu Cys Phe Cys Leu Phe Val Pro Ser Ile Tyr Ala Ile Asp Gly 20 25 30 gtt tat cat gcg cca tac gga atc gat gat ctg tac gag att cag gcg 384 Val Tyr His Ala Pro Tyr Gly Ile Asp Asp Leu Tyr Glu Ile Gln Ala 35 40 45 acg gag cgg agt cca aga gat ccc gtt gca ggc gat act gtg tat atc 432 Thr Glu Arg Ser Pro Arg Asp Pro Val Ala Gly Asp Thr Val Tyr Ile 50 55 60 aag ata aca acg tgg ccc att gaa tca gga caa acg gct tgg gtg acc 480 Lys Ile Thr Thr Trp Pro Ile Glu Ser Gly Gln Thr Ala Trp Val Thr 65 70 75 80 tgg acg aaa aac ggt gtc aat caa gct gct gtc gga gca gca ttc aaa 528 Trp Thr Lys Asn Gly Val Asn Gln Ala Ala Val Gly Ala Ala Phe Lys 85 90 95 tac aac agc ggc aac aac act tac tgg gaa gcg aac ctt ggc act ttt 576 Tyr Asn Ser Gly Asn Asn Thr Tyr Trp Glu Ala Asn Leu Gly Thr Phe 100 105 110 gca aaa ggg gac gtg atc agt tat acc gtt cat ggc aac aag gat ggc 624 Ala Lys Gly Asp Val Ile Ser Tyr Thr Val His Gly Asn Lys Asp Gly 115 120 125 gcg aat gag aag gtt atc ggt cct ttt act ttt acc gta acg gga tgg 672 Ala Asn Glu Lys Val Ile Gly Pro Phe Thr Phe Thr Val Thr Gly Trp 130 135 140 gaa tcc gtt agc agt atc agc tct att acg gat aat acg aac cgt gtt 720 Glu Ser Val Ser Ser Ile Ser Ser Ile Thr Asp Asn Thr Asn Arg Val 145 150 155 160 gtg ctg aat gcg gtg ccg aat aca ggc aca ttg aag cca aag atc aac 768 Val Leu Asn Ala Val Pro Asn Thr Gly Thr Leu Lys Pro Lys Ile Asn 165 170 175 ctt tcc ttt acg gcg gat gat gtc ctc cgc gta cag gtt tct cca acc 816 Leu Ser Phe Thr Ala Asp Asp Val Leu Arg Val Gln Val Ser Pro Thr 180 185 190 gga aca gga acg tta agc agt gga ctt agt aat tac aca gtt tca gat 864 Gly Thr Gly Thr Leu Ser Ser Gly Leu Ser Asn Tyr Thr Val Ser Asp 195 200 205 acc gcc tca acc act tgg ctt aca act tcc aag ctg aag gtg aag gtg 912 Thr Ala Ser Thr Thr Trp Leu Thr Thr Ser Lys Leu Lys Val Lys Val 210 215 220 gat aag aat cca ttc aaa ctt agt gtg tat aag cct gat gga acg acg 960 Asp Lys Asn Pro Phe Lys Leu Ser Val Tyr Lys Pro Asp Gly Thr Thr 225 230 235 240 ttg att gcc cgt caa tat gac agc act acg aat cgt aac att gcc tgg 1008 Leu Ile Ala Arg Gln Tyr Asp Ser Thr Thr Asn Arg Asn Ile Ala Trp 245 250 255 tta acc aat ggc agt aca atc atc gac aag gta gaa gat cat ttt tat 1056 Leu Thr Asn Gly Ser Thr Ile Ile Asp Lys Val Glu Asp His Phe Tyr 260 265 270 tca ccg gct tcc gag gag ttt ttt ggc ttt gga gag cat tac aac aac 1104 Ser Pro Ala Ser Glu Glu Phe Phe Gly Phe Gly Glu His Tyr Asn Asn 275 280 285 ttc cgt aaa cgc gga aat gat gtg gac acc tat gtg ttc aac cag tat 1152 Phe Arg Lys Arg Gly Asn Asp Val Asp Thr Tyr Val Phe Asn Gln Tyr 290 295 300 aag aat caa aat gac cgc acc tac atg gca att cct ttt atg ctt aac 1200 Lys Asn Gln Asn Asp Arg Thr Tyr Met Ala Ile Pro Phe Met Leu Asn 305 310 315 320 agc agc ggt tat ggc att ttc gta aat tca acg tat tat tcc aaa ttt 1248 Ser Ser Gly Tyr Gly Ile Phe Val Asn Ser Thr Tyr Tyr Ser Lys Phe 325 330 335 cgg ttg gca acc gaa cgc acc gat atg ttc agc ttt acg gct gat aca 1296 Arg Leu Ala Thr Glu Arg Thr Asp Met Phe Ser Phe Thr Ala Asp Thr 340 345 350 ggg ggt agt gcc gcc tcg atg ctg gat tat tat ttc att tac ggt aat 1344 Gly Gly Ser Ala Ala Ser Met Leu Asp Tyr Tyr Phe Ile Tyr Gly Asn 355 360 365 gat ttg aaa aat gtg gtg agt aac tac gct aac att acc ggt aag cca 1392 Asp Leu Lys Asn Val Val Ser Asn Tyr Ala Asn Ile Thr Gly Lys Pro 370 375 380 aca gcg ctg ccg aaa tgg gct ttc ggg tta tgg atg tca gct aac gag 1440 Thr Ala Leu Pro Lys Trp Ala Phe Gly Leu Trp Met Ser Ala Asn Glu 385 390 395 400 tgg gat cgt caa acc aag gtg aat aca gcc att aat aac gcg aac tcc 1488 Trp Asp Arg Gln Thr Lys Val Asn Thr Ala Ile Asn Asn Ala Asn Ser 405 410 415 aat aat att ccg gct aca gcg gtt gtg ctc gaa cag tgg agt gat gag 1536 Asn Asn Ile Pro Ala Thr Ala Val Val Leu Glu Gln Trp Ser Asp Glu 420 425 430 aac acg ttt tat att ttc aat gat gcc acc tat acc ccg aaa acg ggc 1584 Asn Thr Phe Tyr Ile Phe Asn Asp Ala Thr Tyr Thr Pro Lys Thr Gly 435 440 445 agt gct gcg cat gcc tat acc gat ttc act ttc ccg aca tct ggg aga 1632 Ser Ala Ala His Ala Tyr Thr Asp Phe Thr Phe Pro Thr Ser Gly Arg 450 455 460 tgg acg gat cca aaa gcg atg gca gac aat gtg cat aac aat ggg atg 1680 Trp Thr Asp Pro Lys Ala Met Ala Asp Asn Val His Asn Asn Gly Met 465 470 475 480 aag ctg gtg ctt tgg cag gtc cct att cag aaa tgg act tca acg ccc 1728 Lys Leu Val Leu Trp Gln Val Pro Ile Gln Lys Trp Thr Ser Thr Pro 485 490 495 tat acc cag aaa gat aat gat gaa gcc tat atg acg gct cag aat tat 1776 Tyr Thr Gln Lys Asp Asn Asp Glu Ala Tyr Met Thr Ala Gln Asn Tyr 500 505 510 gca gtt ggc aac ggt agc gga ggc cag tac agg ata cct tca gga caa 1824 Ala Val Gly Asn Gly Ser Gly Gly Gln Tyr Arg Ile Pro Ser Gly Gln 515 520 525 tgg ttc gag aac agt ttg ctg ctt gat ttt acg aat acg gcc gcc aaa 1872 Trp Phe Glu Asn Ser Leu Leu Leu Asp Phe Thr Asn Thr Ala Ala Lys 530 535 540 aac tgg tgg atg tct aaa cgc gct tat ctg ttt gat ggt gtg ggt atc 1920 Asn Trp Trp Met Ser Lys Arg Ala Tyr Leu Phe Asp Gly Val Gly Ile 545 550 555 560 gac ggc ttc aaa aca gat ggc ggt gaa atg gta tgg ggt cgc tca aat 1968 Asp Gly Phe Lys Thr Asp Gly Gly Glu Met Val Trp Gly Arg Ser Asn 565 570 575 act ttc tca aac ggt aag aaa ggc aat gaa atg cgc aat caa tac ccg 2016 Thr Phe Ser Asn Gly Lys Lys Gly Asn Glu Met Arg Asn Gln Tyr Pro 580 585 590 aat gag tat gtg aaa gcc tat aac gag tac gcg cgc tcg aag aaa gcc 2064 Asn Glu Tyr Val Lys Ala Tyr Asn Glu Tyr Ala Arg Ser Lys Lys Ala 595 600 605 gat gcg gtc tcc ttt agc cgt tcc ggc acg caa ggc gca cag gcg aat 2112 Asp Ala Val Ser Phe Ser Arg Ser Gly Thr Gln Gly Ala Gln Ala Asn 610 615 620 cag att ttc tgg tcc ggt gac caa gag tcg acg ttt ggt gct ttt caa 2160 Gln Ile Phe Trp Ser Gly Asp Gln Glu Ser Thr Phe Gly Ala Phe Gln 625 630 635 640 caa gct gtg aat gca ggg ctt acg gca agt atg tct ggc gtt cct tat 2208 Gln Ala Val Asn Ala Gly Leu Thr Ala Ser Met Ser Gly Val Pro Tyr 645 650 655 tgg agc tgg gat atg gca ggc ttt aca ggc act tat cca acg gct gag 2256 Trp Ser Trp Asp Met Ala Gly Phe Thr Gly Thr Tyr Pro Thr Ala Glu 660 665 670 ttg tac aaa cgt gct act gaa atg gct gct ttt gca ccg gtc atg cag 2304 Leu Tyr Lys Arg Ala Thr Glu Met Ala Ala Phe Ala Pro Val Met Gln 675 680 685 ttt cat tcc gag tct aac ggc agc tct ggt atc aac gag gaa cgt tct 2352 Phe His Ser Glu Ser Asn Gly Ser Ser Gly Ile Asn Glu Glu Arg Ser 690 695 700 cca tgg aac gca caa gcg cgt aca ggc gac aat acg atc att agt cat 2400 Pro Trp Asn Ala Gln Ala Arg Thr Gly Asp Asn Thr Ile Ile Ser His 705 710 715 720 ttt gcc aaa tat acg aat acg cgc atg aat ttg ctt cct tat att tat 2448 Phe Ala Lys Tyr Thr Asn Thr Arg Met Asn Leu Leu Pro Tyr Ile Tyr 725 730 735 agc gaa gcg aag atg gct agt gat act ggc gtt ccc atg atg cgc gcc 2496 Ser Glu Ala Lys Met Ala Ser Asp Thr Gly Val Pro Met Met Arg Ala 740 745 750 atg gcg ctt gaa tat ccg aag gac acg aac acg tac ggt ttg aca caa 2544 Met Ala Leu Glu Tyr Pro Lys Asp Thr Asn Thr Tyr Gly Leu Thr Gln 755 760 765 cag tat atg ttc gga ggt aat tta ctt att gct cct gtt atg aat cag 2592 Gln Tyr Met Phe Gly Gly Asn Leu Leu Ile Ala Pro Val Met Asn Gln 770 775 780 gga gaa aca aac aag agt att tat ctt ccg cag ggg gat tgg atc gat 2640 Gly Glu Thr Asn Lys Ser Ile Tyr Leu Pro Gln Gly Asp Trp Ile Asp 785 790 795 800 ttc tgg ttc ggt gct cag cgt cct ggc ggt cga aca atc agc tac acg 2688 Phe Trp Phe Gly Ala Gln Arg Pro Gly Gly Arg Thr Ile Ser Tyr Thr 805 810 815 gcc ggc atc gat gat cta ccg gtt ttt gtg aag ttt ggc agt att ctt 2736 Ala Gly Ile Asp Asp Leu Pro Val Phe Val Lys Phe Gly Ser Ile Leu 820 825 830 ccg atg aat ttg aac gcg caa tat caa gtg ggc ggg acc att ggc aac 2784 Pro Met Asn Leu Asn Ala Gln Tyr Gln Val Gly Gly Thr Ile Gly Asn 835 840 845 agc ttg acg agc tac acg aat ctc gcg ttc cgc att tat ccg ctt ggg 2832 Ser Leu Thr Ser Tyr Thr Asn Leu Ala Phe Arg Ile Tyr Pro Leu Gly 850 855 860 aca aca acg tac gac tgg aat gat gat att ggc ggt tcg gtg aaa acc 2880 Thr Thr Thr Tyr Asp Trp Asn Asp Asp Ile Gly Gly Ser Val Lys Thr 865 870 875 880 ata act tct aca gag caa tat ggg ttg aat aaa gaa acc gtg act gtt 2928 Ile Thr Ser Thr Glu Gln Tyr Gly Leu Asn Lys Glu Thr Val Thr Val 885 890 895 cca gcg att aat tct acc aag aca ttg caa gtg ttt acg act aag cct 2976 Pro Ala Ile Asn Ser Thr Lys Thr Leu Gln Val Phe Thr Thr Lys Pro 900 905 910 tcc tct gta acg gtg ggt ggt tct gtg atg aca gag tac agt act tta 3024 Ser Ser Val Thr Val Gly Gly Ser Val Met Thr Glu Tyr Ser Thr Leu 915 920 925 act gcc cta acg gga gcg tcg aca ggc tgg tac tat gat act gta cag 3072 Thr Ala Leu Thr Gly Ala Ser Thr Gly Trp Tyr Tyr Asp Thr Val Gln 930 935 940 aaa ttc act tac gtc aag ctt ggt tca agt gca tct gct caa tcc gtt 3120 Lys Phe Thr Tyr Val Lys Leu Gly Ser Ser Ala Ser Ala Gln Ser Val 945 950 955 960 gtg cta aat ggc gtt aat aag gtg gaa tat gaa gca gaa ttc ggc gtg 3168 Val Leu Asn Gly Val Asn Lys Val Glu Tyr Glu Ala Glu Phe Gly Val 965 970 975 caa agc ggc gtt tca acg aac acg aac cat gca ggt tat act ggt aca 3216 Gln Ser Gly Val Ser Thr Asn Thr Asn His Ala Gly Tyr Thr Gly Thr 980 985 990 gga ttt gtg gac ggc ttt gag act ctt gga gac aat gtt gct ttt gat 3264 Gly Phe Val Asp Gly Phe Glu Thr Leu Gly Asp Asn Val Ala Phe Asp 995 1000 1005 gtt tcc gtc aaa gcc gca ggt act tat acg atg aag gtt cgg tat tca 3312 Val Ser Val Lys Ala Ala Gly Thr Tyr Thr Met Lys Val Arg Tyr Ser 1010 1015 1020 tcc ggt gca ggc aat ggc tca aga gcc atc tat gtg aat aac acc aaa 3360 Ser Gly Ala Gly Asn Gly Ser Arg Ala Ile Tyr Val Asn Asn Thr Lys 1025 1030 1035 1040 gtg acg gac ctt gcc ttg ccg caa aca aca agc tgg gat aca tgg ggg 3408 Val Thr Asp Leu Ala Leu Pro Gln Thr Thr Ser Trp Asp Thr Trp Gly 1045 1050 1055 act gct acg ttt agc gtc tcg ctg agt aca ggt ctc aac acg gtg aaa 3456 Thr Ala Thr Phe Ser Val Ser Leu Ser Thr Gly Leu Asn Thr Val Lys 1060 1065 1070 gtc agc tat gat ggt acc agt tca ctt ggc att aat ttc gat aac atc 3504 Val Ser Tyr Asp Gly Thr Ser Ser Leu Gly Ile Asn Phe Asp Asn Ile 1075 1080 1085 gcg att gta gag caa taa 3522 Ala Ile Val Glu Gln 1090 aaggtcggga gggcaagtcc ctcccttaat ttctaatcga aagggagtat ccttgatgcg 3582 tccaccaaac aaagaaattc cacgtattct tgcttttttt acagcgttta cgttgtttgg 3642 ttcaaccctt gccttgcttc ctgctccgcc tgcgcatgcc tatgtcagca gcctaggaaa 3702 tctcatttct tcgagtgtca ccggagatac cttgacgcta actgttgata acggtgcgga 3762 gccgagtgat gacctcttga ttgttcaagc ggtgcaaaac ggtattttga aggtggatta 3822 tcgtccaaat agcataacgc cgagcgcgaa gacgccgatg ctggatc 3869 16 4986 DNA Bacillus globisporus CDS (667)..(3948) 16 gagctcggga agaacccgtc cctgcaagct tggacgcagg cggtggagga ggcgggagtc 60 tacatcgctt ccgctatggc aggggctggg ggaggtgcat acggcttgat cggccactgc 120 tggggagggc tgctggcgtt cgagaccggc cactggctga aggcttgcgg gatgcaggag 180 ccgacgcatc tgttcgtgtc cgggtgcagc ccgccccatc tgctgcaagc gcggccggac 240 ttgggaacgg gaccatccgg cccggctccg ctccccgatg cctgccggat cgcccaagcg 300 taccgtatgc cttccaggcg cgggccgctg cttgcccggc tgagtgtatt cgccggccgc 360 cgagacccgg gcgtgtatgt ggatagtttg gccgaatggg gccgctatac ggcccgcata 420 tgcgatgttc atattggcga gggcgggcat gcagattggg gacctgatgc agaccgttgg 480 ctgccattcg tgcaaatgat tgcggagagg gaatattcgt cttcttgaag ccaggtgacc 540 tcagataaga tgtcgcacta agctgtatag tttcggaagg gaggtgaggc agagaagcgc 600 accatgagct gttagcttga cgtttaacgg tcaaaaccaa ttttactttg ggaaggagca 660 agattt atg cat gga aga aac ata ccg aga ccc atc aag ctc att gtt 708 Met His Gly Arg Asn Ile Pro Arg Pro Ile Lys Leu Ile Val 1 5 10 tct tgg ctg ctg att ttc ttt tta atg gtg cca agc atc tat gca att 756 Ser Trp Leu Leu Ile Phe Phe Leu Met Val Pro Ser Ile Tyr Ala Ile 15 20 25 30 gac ggc gta tac cac gcg cct tac ggg atc gac gat ctt tat gag att 804 Asp Gly Val Tyr His Ala Pro Tyr Gly Ile Asp Asp Leu Tyr Glu Ile 35 40 45 cag gcg acg gag cgc agt ccg aga gac cct gtg gcc ggg gag acg gtg 852 Gln Ala Thr Glu Arg Ser Pro Arg Asp Pro Val Ala Gly Glu Thr Val 50 55 60 tat atc aaa atc aca aca tgg ccg atc gag ccc gga cag acg gca tgg 900 Tyr Ile Lys Ile Thr Thr Trp Pro Ile Glu Pro Gly Gln Thr Ala Trp 65 70 75 gtg acc tgg acg aaa aac ggc gtc gcc cag ccg gcg gtc ggt gcc gcc 948 Val Thr Trp Thr Lys Asn Gly Val Ala Gln Pro Ala Val Gly Ala Ala 80 85 90 tac aag tac aac agc ggc aac aac acc tac tgg gag gcg aac ctg ggc 996 Tyr Lys Tyr Asn Ser Gly Asn Asn Thr Tyr Trp Glu Ala Asn Leu Gly 95 100 105 110 agc ttc gcc aaa gga gac gta att tcc tac acc gtt cgc ggc aat aag 1044 Ser Phe Ala Lys Gly Asp Val Ile Ser Tyr Thr Val Arg Gly Asn Lys 115 120 125 gac ggt gcc aat gaa aaa acg gcc gga ccg ttc acc ttt acc gta acc 1092 Asp Gly Ala Asn Glu Lys Thr Ala Gly Pro Phe Thr Phe Thr Val Thr 130 135 140 gac tgg gaa tac gtc agc agc atc ggc tcg gtc acg aat aac acg aac 1140 Asp Trp Glu Tyr Val Ser Ser Ile Gly Ser Val Thr Asn Asn Thr Asn 145 150 155 cgt gtc ctg ctg aat gcg gtg ccg aac acg ggg acg ctg tcc ccc aag 1188 Arg Val Leu Leu Asn Ala Val Pro Asn Thr Gly Thr Leu Ser Pro Lys 160 165 170 atc aac att tcg ttc acg gcg gac gat gtg ttc cgc gtt cag ctc tcc 1236 Ile Asn Ile Ser Phe Thr Ala Asp Asp Val Phe Arg Val Gln Leu Ser 175 180 185 190 cct acg gga tcg ggg acg ttg agc acg ggc ctg agt aat ttt acc gtc 1284 Pro Thr Gly Ser Gly Thr Leu Ser Thr Gly Leu Ser Asn Phe Thr Val 195 200 205 acg gac agt gcg tcc acg gcc tgg atc tct aca tcc aaa tta aag ctg 1332 Thr Asp Ser Ala Ser Thr Ala Trp Ile Ser Thr Ser Lys Leu Lys Leu 210 215 220 aag gtg gat aag aat ccg ttc aaa ctg agc gtg tac aag ccg gac ggc 1380 Lys Val Asp Lys Asn Pro Phe Lys Leu Ser Val Tyr Lys Pro Asp Gly 225 230 235 acg acg ctg atc gcg cgc cag tat gac agc acg gcc aac cgc aat ctc 1428 Thr Thr Leu Ile Ala Arg Gln Tyr Asp Ser Thr Ala Asn Arg Asn Leu 240 245 250 gct tgg ctg acc aat ggc agc act gtc atc aat aaa atc gag gac cac 1476 Ala Trp Leu Thr Asn Gly Ser Thr Val Ile Asn Lys Ile Glu Asp His 255 260 265 270 ttc tac tcg ccg gcg tcc gag gag ttt ttc ggc ttc ggg gag cgc tac 1524 Phe Tyr Ser Pro Ala Ser Glu Glu Phe Phe Gly Phe Gly Glu Arg Tyr 275 280 285 aac aac ttc cgc aag cgc gga acc gac gtg gac acg tat gtc tac aat 1572 Asn Asn Phe Arg Lys Arg Gly Thr Asp Val Asp Thr Tyr Val Tyr Asn 290 295 300 cag tac aaa aat caa aac gac cgc acc tat atg gca atc ccc ttc atg 1620 Gln Tyr Lys Asn Gln Asn Asp Arg Thr Tyr Met Ala Ile Pro Phe Met 305 310 315 ctg aac agc agc ggg tac ggt atc ttc gta aac tcc acg tac tac tcc 1668 Leu Asn Ser Ser Gly Tyr Gly Ile Phe Val Asn Ser Thr Tyr Tyr Ser 320 325 330 aaa ttc cgc ttg gca act gag cgc tcc gat atg tac agt ttt acg gcc 1716 Lys Phe Arg Leu Ala Thr Glu Arg Ser Asp Met Tyr Ser Phe Thr Ala 335 340 345 350 gat acc ggg ggc agc gcc aat tcg acg ctg gat tac tac ttt att tac 1764 Asp Thr Gly Gly Ser Ala Asn Ser Thr Leu Asp Tyr Tyr Phe Ile Tyr 355 360 365 ggc aat gac ttg aag ggc gtc gtc agc aat tat gcg aac atc aca ggc 1812 Gly Asn Asp Leu Lys Gly Val Val Ser Asn Tyr Ala Asn Ile Thr Gly 370 375 380 aag ccg gct gct ctg ccc aaa tgg gcg ttt ggc ctc tgg atg tcg gcc 1860 Lys Pro Ala Ala Leu Pro Lys Trp Ala Phe Gly Leu Trp Met Ser Ala 385 390 395 aat gag tgg gac cgg caa tcc aaa gta gcg act gcg atc aat aac gcc 1908 Asn Glu Trp Asp Arg Gln Ser Lys Val Ala Thr Ala Ile Asn Asn Ala 400 405 410 aat acg aac aac atc ccg gcg acg gcc gtc gtg ctg gag cag tgg agt 1956 Asn Thr Asn Asn Ile Pro Ala Thr Ala Val Val Leu Glu Gln Trp Ser 415 420 425 430 gac gag aat acg ttc tat atg ttc aac gat gcg cag tat acg gcc aaa 2004 Asp Glu Asn Thr Phe Tyr Met Phe Asn Asp Ala Gln Tyr Thr Ala Lys 435 440 445 cct ggc ggc agc aca cac tcc tat acg gac tat atc ttc ccg gcg gcc 2052 Pro Gly Gly Ser Thr His Ser Tyr Thr Asp Tyr Ile Phe Pro Ala Ala 450 455 460 ggc cgt tgg ccg aat ccg aag caa atg gcg gat aat gta cac agt aac 2100 Gly Arg Trp Pro Asn Pro Lys Gln Met Ala Asp Asn Val His Ser Asn 465 470 475 ggg atg aag ctg gtg ctg tgg cag gtg ccg att cag aaa tgg acc gcc 2148 Gly Met Lys Leu Val Leu Trp Gln Val Pro Ile Gln Lys Trp Thr Ala 480 485 490 gct cct cat ctg cag aag gac aac gac gaa agc tat atg atc gcg caa 2196 Ala Pro His Leu Gln Lys Asp Asn Asp Glu Ser Tyr Met Ile Ala Gln 495 500 505 510 aat tat gcc gta ggc aac ggc agc gga ggc cag tac cgc atc cct agc 2244 Asn Tyr Ala Val Gly Asn Gly Ser Gly Gly Gln Tyr Arg Ile Pro Ser 515 520 525 ggg caa tgg ttt gag aac agc ctg ctg ctg gac ttc acg aac ccg agc 2292 Gly Gln Trp Phe Glu Asn Ser Leu Leu Leu Asp Phe Thr Asn Pro Ser 530 535 540 gcc aaa aac tgg tgg atg tcc aag cgc gcc tat ctg ttt gat ggc gtc 2340 Ala Lys Asn Trp Trp Met Ser Lys Arg Ala Tyr Leu Phe Asp Gly Val 545 550 555 ggc atc gac ggg ttc aag acg gac gga ggg gag atg gtc tgg ggc cgc 2388 Gly Ile Asp Gly Phe Lys Thr Asp Gly Gly Glu Met Val Trp Gly Arg 560 565 570 tgg aac acg ttc gcc aat ggc aaa aaa ggc gat gaa atg cgc aac cag 2436 Trp Asn Thr Phe Ala Asn Gly Lys Lys Gly Asp Glu Met Arg Asn Gln 575 580 585 590 tac ccg aac gat tac gtg aag gcc tac aac gaa tat gcg cgc tcg aag 2484 Tyr Pro Asn Asp Tyr Val Lys Ala Tyr Asn Glu Tyr Ala Arg Ser Lys 595 600 605 aaa agc gat gcc gtc agc ttc agc cgt tcg ggc acg caa ggg gcg caa 2532 Lys Ser Asp Ala Val Ser Phe Ser Arg Ser Gly Thr Gln Gly Ala Gln 610 615 620 gcg aat cag atc ttc tgg tcc ggt gac cag gaa tcg acg ttc ggt gcc 2580 Ala Asn Gln Ile Phe Trp Ser Gly Asp Gln Glu Ser Thr Phe Gly Ala 625 630 635 ttc cag caa gcc gtc cag gcg gga ctg acc gca ggc ttg tcc ggc gtt 2628 Phe Gln Gln Ala Val Gln Ala Gly Leu Thr Ala Gly Leu Ser Gly Val 640 645 650 ccg tat tgg agc tgg gac ttg gct gga ttc acc ggc gct tat ccg tcg 2676 Pro Tyr Trp Ser Trp Asp Leu Ala Gly Phe Thr Gly Ala Tyr Pro Ser 655 660 665 670 gcc gag cta tat aaa cgc gcg acg gca atg tcg gca ttt gcc ccg att 2724 Ala Glu Leu Tyr Lys Arg Ala Thr Ala Met Ser Ala Phe Ala Pro Ile 675 680 685 atg cag ttc cac tcc gaa gcc aac ggc agt tcc ggc atc aat gag gag 2772 Met Gln Phe His Ser Glu Ala Asn Gly Ser Ser Gly Ile Asn Glu Glu 690 695 700 cgg tcc ccg tgg aat gct cag gcc cgg act ggc gac aac acg atc atc 2820 Arg Ser Pro Trp Asn Ala Gln Ala Arg Thr Gly Asp Asn Thr Ile Ile 705 710 715 agc cat ttt gcc aag tat acg aac acc cgg atg aac ctg ctt cct tat 2868 Ser His Phe Ala Lys Tyr Thr Asn Thr Arg Met Asn Leu Leu Pro Tyr 720 725 730 att tac agc gag gct aaa gca gca agc gat act ggc gtg ccg atg atg 2916 Ile Tyr Ser Glu Ala Lys Ala Ala Ser Asp Thr Gly Val Pro Met Met 735 740 745 750 cgc gcg atg gcg ctg gag tat ccg agc gat acc cag acg tac gga ttg 2964 Arg Ala Met Ala Leu Glu Tyr Pro Ser Asp Thr Gln Thr Tyr Gly Leu 755 760 765 acg cag cag tac atg ttc ggc ggc agc ctg ctg gtg gcg cct gtc ttg 3012 Thr Gln Gln Tyr Met Phe Gly Gly Ser Leu Leu Val Ala Pro Val Leu 770 775 780 aac caa ggc gag acg aat aag aat atc tac ctt ccg caa gga gat tgg 3060 Asn Gln Gly Glu Thr Asn Lys Asn Ile Tyr Leu Pro Gln Gly Asp Trp 785 790 795 atc gac ttc tgg ttc ggc gcg cag cgt ccg ggc ggg cga acg atc agc 3108 Ile Asp Phe Trp Phe Gly Ala Gln Arg Pro Gly Gly Arg Thr Ile Ser 800 805 810 tac tac gcg ggc gtg gac gat ctt ccc gtc ttc gtg aag tcc ggc agc 3156 Tyr Tyr Ala Gly Val Asp Asp Leu Pro Val Phe Val Lys Ser Gly Ser 815 820 825 830 atc ctg ccg atg aat ctg aac ggg cag tat cag gtt ggc ggc acg atc 3204 Ile Leu Pro Met Asn Leu Asn Gly Gln Tyr Gln Val Gly Gly Thr Ile 835 840 845 ggc aac agc ttg acc gcc tac aac aac ctg acg ttc cgg att tat cca 3252 Gly Asn Ser Leu Thr Ala Tyr Asn Asn Leu Thr Phe Arg Ile Tyr Pro 850 855 860 ctg ggt acg acg acg tac agc tgg aat gat gac atc ggc ggc tcg gtg 3300 Leu Gly Thr Thr Thr Tyr Ser Trp Asn Asp Asp Ile Gly Gly Ser Val 865 870 875 aag acg att acg tcg aca gag cag tat gga ctg aat aaa gag acg gtg 3348 Lys Thr Ile Thr Ser Thr Glu Gln Tyr Gly Leu Asn Lys Glu Thr Val 880 885 890 acg ctt ccg gcg atc aac tcg gcg aag acg ctc cag gtg ttc acg acc 3396 Thr Leu Pro Ala Ile Asn Ser Ala Lys Thr Leu Gln Val Phe Thr Thr 895 900 905 910 aag ccg tcg tcg gtg acg ctg ggc ggc acg gcc ctc acc gcg cat agc 3444 Lys Pro Ser Ser Val Thr Leu Gly Gly Thr Ala Leu Thr Ala His Ser 915 920 925 aca tta agc gca ttg atc ggc gct tcc tcc ggc tgg tat tac gat acg 3492 Thr Leu Ser Ala Leu Ile Gly Ala Ser Ser Gly Trp Tyr Tyr Asp Thr 930 935 940 gtg caa aag ctc gcc tat gtg aag ctc ggc gcc agc tca tcg gcg caa 3540 Val Gln Lys Leu Ala Tyr Val Lys Leu Gly Ala Ser Ser Ser Ala Gln 945 950 955 acc gtc gtg ctt gac ggc gtc aac aag gtc gag tat gag gct gag ttc 3588 Thr Val Val Leu Asp Gly Val Asn Lys Val Glu Tyr Glu Ala Glu Phe 960 965 970 ggc aca ctt acc ggc gtc acg acc aat acg aat cat gcc ggc tat atg 3636 Gly Thr Leu Thr Gly Val Thr Thr Asn Thr Asn His Ala Gly Tyr Met 975 980 985 990 ggt acc ggc ttt gtc gac ggc ttc gat gcg gca ggc gat gca gtg acc 3684 Gly Thr Gly Phe Val Asp Gly Phe Asp Ala Ala Gly Asp Ala Val Thr 995 1000 1005 ttc gac gta tcc gtc aaa gcg gcc ggc acg tat gcg ctc aag gtc cgg 3732 Phe Asp Val Ser Val Lys Ala Ala Gly Thr Tyr Ala Leu Lys Val Arg 1010 1015 1020 tac gct tcc gct ggt ggc aac gct tca cgc gct atc tat gtc aac aac 3780 Tyr Ala Ser Ala Gly Gly Asn Ala Ser Arg Ala Ile Tyr Val Asn Asn 1025 1030 1035 gcc aag gtg acc gat ctg gcg ctt ccg gca acg gcc aac tgg gac acc 3828 Ala Lys Val Thr Asp Leu Ala Leu Pro Ala Thr Ala Asn Trp Asp Thr 1040 1045 1050 tgg ggg acg gca acc gtc aac gta gcc tta aac gcc ggc tac aac tcg 3876 Trp Gly Thr Ala Thr Val Asn Val Ala Leu Asn Ala Gly Tyr Asn Ser 1055 1060 1065 1070 atc aag gtc agc tac gac aac acc aat acg ctc ggc att aat ctc gat 3924 Ile Lys Val Ser Tyr Asp Asn Thr Asn Thr Leu Gly Ile Asn Leu Asp 1075 1080 1085 aac att gcg atc gtg gag cat tga 3948 Asn Ile Ala Ile Val Glu His 1090 cagcaggaat cttcgcgagg aatgagttag cgaagagttc atgcaggcag aggggttacc 4008 cataattgta aagcccggcg cagccaggca ccaagtatgc ccgggagggc cgccggccct 4068 ccctttattt caatgatgaa aggcggcatc gatatgggtc tatggaacaa acgagtcact 4128 cgcatcctct ccgtactcgc agcaagcgcg ctgatcggct ctaccgtacc ttctctagcg 4188 ccacctcccg ctcaagccca tgtgagcgcg ctgggcaacc tgctttcctc ggcggtgacc 4248 ggggatacgc tcacgctgac gatcgataac ggcgcggaac cgaatgacga tattctagtt 4308 ctgcaagcag tccagaacgg tattctgaag gtggactacc ggccgaacgg tgtagctcca 4368 agcgcggata cgccgatgct ggatcccaat aaaacctggc cgtccatagg cgccgttatc 4428 aatacagcct ctaatccgat gacgatcaca acgccggcga tgaagattga gattgccaaa 4488 aatccggtgc gcctgaccgt gaaaaaaccg gacggcaccg ctctgttatg ggaacccccg 4548 accggcggcg tcttctcgga cggcgtccgt ttcttgcacg ggacgggcga caatatgtac 4608 ggcatccgca gcttcaatgc ttttgacagc ggcggggatc tgctgcgcaa cagctccacc 4668 caagccgccc gtgcaggcga ccagggcaac tccggcggcc cgctgatctg gagcacagcc 4728 gggtacgggg tgctcgttga cagcgacggt gggtatccgt tcacggacga ggctaccggc 4788 aagctggagt tctattacgg cggcacgcct ccggaaggcc ggcgctatac gaagcaggat 4848 gtggagtact acatcatgct cggcacgccg aaagagatca tgtccggcgt cggggaaatt 4908 acgggcaaac cgccgatgct gcccaagtgg tccctgggct ttatgaactt cgagtgggat 4968 ctgaatgaag ctgagctc 4986 17 17 PRT Artificial synthetic 17 Ala Ala Tyr Thr Gly Gly Thr Gly Gly Ala Thr Gly Trp Ser Asn Ala 1 5 10 15 Ala 18 17 PRT Artificial synthetic 18 Gly Thr Asn Thr Thr Tyr Ala Ala Tyr Cys Ala Arg Thr Ala Tyr Ala 1 5 10 15 Ala 19 23 PRT Artificial synthetic 19 Gly Ala Tyr Thr Gly Gly Ala Thr His Gly Ala Tyr Thr Thr Tyr Thr 1 5 10 15 Gly Gly Thr Thr Tyr Gly Gly 20 

1. A polypeptide which has an enzymatic activity of producing, through α-isomaltosyl-transferring reaction, a saccharide having a structure of cyclo{→6)-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→3)-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→6)-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→3)-α-D-glucopyrandsyl-(1→} from a saccharide with a glucose polymerization degree of 3 or higher and bearing both the α-1,6 glucosidic linkage as a linkage at the non-reducing end and the α-1,4 glucosidic linkage other than the linkage at the non-reducing end, and which comprises an amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:1 or SEQ ID NO:2, or the amino acid sequence having deletion, replacement, or addition of one or more amino acid residues of SEQ ID NO:1 or SEQ ID NO:2.
 2. The polypeptide of claim 1, which has the following physicochemical properties: (1) Molecular weight Having a molecular weight of about 82,000 to about 132,000 daltons when determined on SDS-PAGE; (2) Optimum temperature Having an optimum temperature of about 50° C. when incubated at pH 6.0 for 30 minutes; (3) Optimum pH Having an optimum pH of about 5.5 to about 6.0 when incubated at 35° C. for 30 minutes; (4) Thermal stability Having a thermostable region at temperatures of about 45° C. or lower when incubated at pH 6.0 for 60 minutes; and (5) pH Stability Having a stable pH region at about 4.5 to about 10.0 when incubated at 4° C. for 24 hours.
 3. A DNA, which encodes the polypeptide of claim 1 or
 2. 4. The DNA of claim 3, which comprises a nucleotide sequence of SEQ ID NO:3 or SEQ ID NO;4, or the nucleotide sequence having deletion, replacement, or insertion of one or more nucleotides of SEQ ID NO:3 or SEQ ID NO:4, complementary nucleotide sequences thereof; or the complementary nucleotide sequence in which one or more nucleotides are replaced with other nucleotide(s) based on the gene degeneracy without changing the amino acid sequence encoded thereby.
 5. The DNA of claim 3 or 4, which is obtainable by replacing one or more nucleotides of SEQ ID NO:3 or SEQ ID NO:4 without changing the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:1 or SEQ ID NO:2 based on genetic code degeneracy.
 6. The DNA of any one of claims 3 to 5, which is originated from a microorganism of the genus Bacillus.
 7. A replicable recombinant DNA, which comprises the DNA of any one of claims 3 to 6 and an autonomously replicable vector.
 8. The replicable recombinant DNA of claim 7, wherein said autonomously-replicable vector is a plasmid vector, Bluescript II SK(+).
 9. A transformant, which is constructed by introducing the recombinant DNA of claim 7 or 8 into an appropriate host.
 10. The transformant of claim 9, wherein said host is Escherichia coli.
 11. A process for producing the polypeptide of claim 1 or 2, which comprises the steps of culturing the transformant of claim 9 or 10 and collecting the polypeptide from the resulting culture.
 12. The process of claim 11, wherein the polypeptide of claim 1 or 2 is collected by one or more techniques selected from the group consisting of centrifuge, filtration, concentration, salting out, dialysis, concentration, separatory precipitation, ion-exchange chromatography, gel filtration chromatography, hydrophobic chromatography, affinity chromatography, gel electrophoresis, and isoelectric focusing.
 13. A process for producing a saccharide having a structure of cyclo{→6)-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→3)-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→6)-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→3)-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→}, which comprises a step of allowing the polypeptide of claim 1 or 2 to act on a saccharide with a glucose polymerization degree of 3 or higher and bearing both the α-1,6 glucosidic linkage as a linkage at the non-reducing end and the α-1,4 glucosidic linkage other than the linkage at the non-reducing end to produce the saccharide.
 14. The process of claim 13, wherein said saccharide with a glucose polymerization degree of 3 or higher and bearing both the α-1,6 glucosidic linkage as a linkage at the non-reducing end and the α-1,4 glucosidic linkage other than the linkage at the non-reducing end is a saccharide produced by from starches, amylaceous substances, or partial hydrolyzates thereof hydrolyzed by acid and/or α-amylase by transglucosylation reaction using α-glucosidase, dextrin-dextranase, or α-isomaltosylglucosaccharide-forming enzyme.
 15. The process of claim 13 or 14, wherein said saccharide with a glucose polymerization degree of 3 or higher and bearing both the α-1,6 glucosidic linkage as a linkage at the non-reducing end and the α-1,4 glucosidic linkage other than the linkage at the non-reducing end is a saccharide produced by hydrolyzing pullulan in the presence of β-amylase and pullulanase.
 16. The process of any one of claims 13 to 15, wherein said saccharide with a glucose polymerization degree of 3 or higher and bearing both the α-1,6 glucosidic linkage as a linkage at the non-reducing end and the α-1,4 glucosidic linkage other than the linkage at the non-reducing end is 6²-O-α-glucosylmaltose, 6³-O-α-glucosylmaltotriose, 6 ⁴-O-α-glucosylmaltotetraose, and/or 6⁵-O-α-glucosylmaltopentaose. 